Life and Times as of 122213

As of this post, in no particular order:
1. I am back from another month in Hong Kong! This explains my month-long blogging absence as I did not bring my laptop with me on my trip. I have a craploadda backlog to work on now, though, but with the holidays up and coming I feel like I won't have enough time to just SIT STILL AND WORK ON BLOG POSTS. All the photos. All the videos. ALL THE HORROR

Addendum 1.5: MY ROOM IS ALSO A MESS AGAIN BECAUSE IT IS ALWAYS A MESS WHENEVER I COME BACK FROM A TRIP

2. I have red hair again, but only because I've had a spare box of red dye since early this year/late last year.

3. I have a new camera!!! A new point-and-shoot, because Kite, my Canon E1, was never capable of shooting HD videos and I wanted consistent quality with my vlogs. Kite's 6 years old this month anyway, so it was about time for retirement. Plus, I don't think I was ever really comfortable with the quality of Kite? Idk. It was a good ride tho! I remember a lot of my remnants of my last year of high school were with Kite.

4. I was supposed to sleep early because I have stuff to do tomorrow morning, but as usual I'm obvs not sticking to the self-appointed curfew.

Here is photographic evidence that I am achully alive and well. I hope you all are, too. Happy holidays!

Prom 4.0

I've been to prom four times now.

From Hong Kong top/dress (worn underneath), Miss Selfridge dress, Thrifted shoes

Well, I didn't attend a prom four times, per se. The first and only one I really attended was my own, in my junior year of high school. The following year, as a senior, I had a partner-in-crime in an attempted crashing of our juniors' prom. The year after (or possibly the same year), I attended the debut of a friend, and the event room across ours was hosting a school's promenade, which we promptly crashed for about thirty seconds.

This year, my friend Jam thought it'd be fun to have a prom-themed birthday celebration, and I'm always game for themed anythings.

From Palawan pearl rings, Apostrophe eyeball bracelet, Thomas Sabo pearl bracelet (gifted), Gachapon ring, Forever 21 knot ring, J & C Online Boutique bracelet

Zara earrings, from HK choker

If I had to relive my prom again, I would totally wear this. Maybe I'd switch the shoes for something more 'appropriate,' and maybe I'd ditch the choker too, only because my high school was very conservative. But besides those two things, I think this seems like a very 'prom' outfit, though still something I'd wear out (which I did, because Jam celebrated her birthday in Bonifacio High Street, and we ended the night at this bar called Rue Bourbon.) To be honest though, I thought prom was so overrated. Not Jam's theme, but my actual prom years ago. Everybody made such a big fuss over it. I didn't make an effort to go find some fancy dress (in fact, the dress I wore was something I just spotted at the department store- when I saw it, I simply thought, "Oh hey, this seems 'formal' enough.") and I didn't stress over it at all. It was no big deal to me then, and I don't regret that to this day. I didn't see the point in spending a notable amount of money on a dress that I'd probably only wear once... unless maybe said dress is my wedding dress or something. (Though my friends and I also joked that this outfit was my wedding dress for the night, heh.)

That said, I didn't spend a substantial amount of cash on this dress either. Miss Selfridge is pretty expensive for me, however this was on sale; it was around P800+ or so, which is pretty reasonable for something from Miss Selfridge. (If I remember right, my actual prom dress back then was probably around that price range too, if not less.) I really liked how feminine the dress was when I saw it, and when it was purchased, I suddenly realized I had something fitting for Jam's prom-themed birthday!

For makeup, I sorta played around with the colors of my dress and used some light blue shades on my eyes, then adding some silver eyeshadow below. Then for lips I just used a pale lavender with purple on the insides.

I'll blog about the actual celebration some other time, on a separate post. Thanks again for that night, Jam, and a belated happy birthday again! I love you!

Also, thank you Papa for taking my outfit pictures because I was too lazy to do my actual usual set up. And the sun was going down so I was pressed for time. Youz a lifesaver, appa.

October 2013

October vlog is mostly footage of my Halloween, but to break it down, the video is composed of the following:

• Long escalator ride down in, um, Times Square? In Hong Kong.
• Random fireworks somewhere in Laguna when we were on the way home from our Batangas trip.
• First face-to-face meeting with a friend I made online.
• Halloween 2013 a.k.a. "Let's Spend The Afternoon In Greenbelt."

Hmm, where to start. Uh, you know how I suddenly dove into K-pop this year headfirst without any safety net? Well, there are perks despite all the broken hearts and even broker wallets. Around maybe 3 months ago, thanks to Camille, I came across this chick on Twitter. To make things brief and less detailed, I tweeted her something about B.A.P and we've been friends ever since. The funniest part of the beginning of our friendship was how unsure I was about her sexual orientation, initially thinking she was actually a he.

Plus, her nickname's Emman (not 'Eman' because oh well how can you blame the baristas for misspelling your name), and her nickname's directly derived from her actual name, and the only Emman in my life before her was an old male blockmate from senior year.

But anyway! We met face-to-face for the first time, and it was magical. Like every other AU out there, we hung out at a coffee shop (namely, Starbucks) and talked about... what else, K-pop. And ~*~high school~*~ and ~*~friendships~*~ and prospective-but-actually-nonexistent ~*~love lives~*~ Besides fangirling over mutual fandoms, it was great getting to know each other  better and even delving into more personal topics. Emman's probably the first online K-pop friend I've met in real life, not counting Camille because we technically physically met before becoming friends.

Emman's probably the first K-pop friend I've made! Our friendship grew very organically, and I owe it all to her (and partially K-pop) for my Twitter being dumbed down and derpy HAHAHA NO JK Emman's super derpy online (several times I have spent laughing by myself just going through her tweets), but I know for a fact that she writes superbly well (a talent I wish I had), and I'm really excited for her life! She's also the prettiest when she smiles and laughs, and is the first first K-pop friend I've made ever since my ~*~conversion~*~

It was surprisingly easy to talk to her about personal things, despite something as simple as a fandom bringing us together. Also, please note our exponential heigh difference.

She also got me this when we met and it was really sweet of her and omg my kokoro!!! The letter included was a response from a handwritten letter I mailed her before, and not seen in the picture is a cute drawing of one of my biases keke. Another meeting, this time with Camille, is in the talks for December, and I really hope it pushes through because I feel like the three of us together would spell greatness (read: derp.) Thank you Emman!!!

The next day was Halloween, and while trick-or-treat plans fell through, I managed to catch the beautiful Alex on her coffee break from work because I was in the area. The meeting was brief but heartfelt, something I think I need more of in my life because it's just a good reminder of how blessed I am to have such incredible people in my life and how getting together can be very pleasant no matter how brief the meeting.

For Halloween this year I was a pumpkin, and the last and only other time I was a pumpkin was when I was 1 or 2 years old. There's a funny story regarding this costume choice, so it was a significant costume to sport this year. I pretty much spent the entire afternoon traipsing Greenbelt as a lone pumpkin (Alex and I did manage to spot one of my pumpkin brethren in the form of a baby!) because I had to wait for my dad to get off work before going home.

Overall, October was fun. The highlight of it was meeting Emman, of course. I mean, I guess it's because I love meeting new people and making new friends, though I don't usually go out of my way to approach them. Anyway, I'll be in Hong Kong this weekend and will be staying for a month, though I'm a little disappointed that my arrival is just a day short of MAMA 2013. Notmeant2b.

Sight

Something really old from December 2011.

This was something conceived two years ago, and was pretty much the first shoot of mine that was inspired by K-pop, though I was not into that culture back then when this was shot. I was inspired to rework this because of my talented friend Camille and her awesome school work; I wanted to make my own interpretation of the theme, but it was already similar to this old shoot, so I decided to sort of 'revamp' it instead.

It was essentially about perception. The deception of it, or the lack of it. Maybe it's fitting for my country's situation right now. Maybe I'm totally, completely wrong.

Model is Janelle.

The Great Hair Story (Part 2 of 2): 2012 - 2013

Previously on toiletteregina, we dissected the various mutations my hair went through over the years. In this post, we conclude the saga (at least for now, until several other transformations are collated in the next few years) with my hair changes since last year. Actually, 2013 alone already involved different hair reworks, which is why 2012 and 2013 were separated from the first post.

The Great Hair Story (Part 1 of 2): 2006 - 2011

Here's a fun fact: my high school yearbook write-up was about my hair. Tintin, who authored said write-up (we were given the choice to write our own or have a partner and write for each other), asked if I wanted my write-up to be about my photography or my hair. I figured I already had a rep (if any) for photography (because of all my extracurriculars), so I went with hair. And so it was done.

This post was going to happen eventually, you know. I've always wanted to make a hair timeline blog post, ever since my early LJ days, though I'm not sure why I never did until now. Holding out on this post for so long also meant a much longer timeline, so I'm splitting this into two parts because one post alone would be too long (read: too many pictures.)

Everything under the cut because WOAH WAY TOO MUCH OF MY FACE! Please note that this is a goldmine of oldschool!Ina pictures. Just a heads up.

Always the Flower Girl

And never the bride. Loljk that's totally wrong, but my outfit reminded me of flower girls and whatnot.

This is a megasuperold outfit, and I know for a fact that I wore this on the first of September. This was the weekend before I got sick, and during the whole dengue ordeal I was too sick to bring myself to the computer. After recovering I just wasn't up to post-processing or browsing much, and so ultimately I lost the groove of blogging things for a while. To this day I have yet to properly document another outfit I've worn.

Meh, better late than never.

Bought from a bazaar top, H&M dress, custom-made petticoat... thing

I think I've been a flower girl thrice, and I remember being really uncomfortable during all three times. Besides my irritation for formalwear, I also really hated being part of the entourage because I didn't want everyone's eyes on me. I was awfully shy as a kid.

From Hong Kong shoes and socks

Crossings Department Store bag, gifted/from Palawan/from HK rings

Forever 21 necklace

I was part of the entourage again at the last wedding I attended, which was nearly a year ago. At that wedding, I was a bridesmaid for the first time, and while it was still awkward, it wasn't as bad as when I was a kid. (The first time I was a flower girl, I was crying the entire way down the aisle out of stage fright. I kid you not.) Being a bridesmaid was much more toxic, though.

K2 headband

One of these days I'd like to attend a wedding again, but this time as just a guest. It'd be interesting to come up with some 'wedding-appropriate' attire, especially when there's a motif! I really like dressing up when there's a theme involved, because not only are you given a vein of dressing to guide you, there are also restrictions, and it's always fun to work around those restrictions without compromising your own style.

Of Sexual Swimming Pools and Farmer Tans

Watch me casually pretend I did not leave my blog to fend for itself for over a month. Early on in October, right after I got back from Hong Kong, my friends and I went to Batangas for an overdue beach trip. 'Overdue' might be an understatement, as we've been intending to go since high school, yet the idea never pulled through because of bits and bobs here and there. While we finally managed to make it, it was practically just less than half of the group, as Billie had to back out last minute because of the storm and so and so. But fret not! One day we'll manage to bring more people, and it will be magical.

Also, a vlog. Filming the trip was kinda funny because there were three of us documenting separate vlogs, but it's also fun because it's like seeing snippets of one story through different perspectives.

While on the road, we somehow found ourselves in Silent Hill. Or rather, the Silent Hill of the Philippines a.k.a. OMG WTF IS THIS FOG TAGAYTAY. Our country was still recovering from a storm that weekend, and I suppose this was what caused all the fog. It was cool, and then creepy (because WOAH Silent Hill vibes much), and then it got a little scary because we could barely see anything on the road anymore.

This was the house we stayed in, courtesy of the glorious Lagunda family. Many things happened in that house. Pictures were taken. Food was not cooked. People slept in the living room and not the actual bedrooms. Food was cooked. And after lunch, before getting ready to leave, we indulged in one of my favorite discussions: old school anime.

Most of our time was spent in the pool and not the actual beach, and I'm pretty sure we weren't thinking straight during the two times we swam in this overnight stay. Our first swimming session was when we arrived; we got there at around 4-5ish, and by the time we swam it was freezing. (I woke up the next morning with an old man!voice box, but then again there was also a lot of yelling the night before.) The next day we swam after checking out the beach, and this was at around 11am. Without sunblock, and the sun was being very loud with its presence that day. As I mentioned before, we were still recovering from a storm, so none of us thought it'd be super sunny once we got to Batangas, and thus none of us thought of bringing sunblock. This resulted in sunburn (everyone but Beau), itching (me, but for all I know all the other sunburnt girls itched as well), peeling (Alex), and farmer's tan (Janelle.)

Hi Janelle and Alex!

And this is the beach. I don't think it's the kind that you can swim in though, but I heard Calatagan is also known for its... diving... things...? Anyway, it made me really happy to finally see this place for my own eyes, as I had only seen it through Janelle's photos back in high school. I remember she had really pretty sunset photos in this area, which then made me realize... why didn't we go here when we arrived, so that we'd catch it during sundown instead? Maybe then we would've been spared the sunburn, and we wouldn't have swam in the cold pool at night. (Then again, night swimming is fun.)

Spot the Roselyn!

Getting to this sandbar, while amusing, was also challenging. BECAUSE OUR FEET WOULD GET SUCKED BY THE SAND LOLOL at some point I think Alex sunk down to her knees! Some dude who came from the sandbar pointed to the path he took, which was much, much easier, though it still did take a while as our slippers would stick to the sand. Thanks, sandbar dude!

I think this is Beau's Korean name. I don't know how to read Hangul.

This picture is evidence that Billie was still with us during that trip. With her family, even.

While the trip was a bit short for my liking (ah, what can you do with schedule differences) and the group was small, I still had a blast. Not surprising, considering the people I was with. I grew up being a beach bum and water baby, so trips like this one make me really happy. Well, out-of-town trips with friends in general make me so happy, no matter how rare they may be.

Thank you friends for all the fun! And the biggest thanks to Janelle and her family, because without them... we would've probably gone through Silent Hill for nothing.

The Story So Far

Dear all, allow me to inform you that I finished playing Final Fantasy XIII-2 today. I made it a point to finish it today since I'll be going to HK tomorrow, and this is also the reason why I haven't been blogging as much. (Also, I've been lazy pfft.) Achievement, because I very rarely ever finish video games, let alone something from the Final Fantasy franchise. This also a big deal because I was so bitter towards this sequel, as I blamed it for the further delay of Kingdom Hearts 3. Because of that, I started playing the sequel with some resentment.

I don't even know what possessed me to get the game anyway! I had no intentions of buying it; if anything, I wanted to borrow a friend's copy, but that was it. BUT IT HAPPENED AND MY LIFE WAS RUINED AND NOW I'VE FINISHED IT AND NOW I'M JUST-

I already knew what would happen, and how it would end, because I had already read up on the story and all since, as I said, I had no intentions of having the game in my life. AND YET... AND YET I HAD FEELS THAT I DIDN'T THINK I WOULD FEEL AND I STILL CRIED AT THE ENDING???

The gameplay for the main storyline was WAY too short though! I get that, with this sequel, Squeenix was addressing the whole issue of its predecessor being too linear. But with FFXIII, the storyline was much, much longer, so my emotional attachment to the characters and the story was much, much stronger. Like srsly, the number of hours on my gameplay of FFXIII-2 was around 37 hours (inclusive of dilly-dallying and grinding), whereas with FFXIII it was... much longer LOL. I remember playing FFXIII took me about a month or so, only because I got caught up with my OJT at the time. FFXIII-2 took me just a week, because I stopped for a couple of days due to some life happenings and stuff.

Granted, the replay value is FFXIII-2 is heaps more than its predecessor, but it almost felt like Squeenix was riding on fans' feels so the short storyline gameplay was made acceptable. It's like... FFXIII has the longer storyline but was deemed too linear, and FFXIII-2 had such a short story playthrough but the replay value is a lot and it's not linear at all.

Bottom line is... SQUEENIX CAN YOU PLEASE FIND THE RIGHT BALANCE WITH LIGHTNING RETURNS?

As for Lightning Returns... I'm tempted to get it ASAP. For the first two games, I was a year late for each, so I knew the story and all that (especially with FFXIII-2.) But with this last installment, I'd be experiencing the story firsthand... (except I'm not sure how firsthand this will be as I am already currently reading up on this last installment HAHAHA)

Lightning Returns might even be the last Squeenix game on the PS3 o m g???

I still think FFXIII-2 was kindov unnecessary, but admittedly, it did address two loopholes that bothered me at the end of FFXIII. Maybe they rode on those loopholes?

I was crying and laughing at the ending of FFXIII-2; crying because FEELS, and laughing because I was all "LOL UGAIZ DUNNO WAT UR SAYIN PLS COULD U B ANY WRONGER???!?" as I followed the script HAHAHA

Other things that need to be addressed:
1. Anything reminiscent of FFXIII (i.e the main characters) that make an appearance in FFXIII-2 made me cry
2. Anything Sazh will make me cry
3. Lightning Returns seems really dark and depressing, and it makes my heart hurt
4. WHY IS HOPE A KID AGAIN IN LIGHTNING RETURNS I MEAN???

My Neighbor Angelo

In which I document my outfit under the rain.

The title is a reference to My Neighbor Totoro, if you didn't pick it up. This was something I wore some time in August, and this post is a semi-tribute to my cousin who is now in Australia. We held a despedida for him that day, and by despedida, it obviously meant lots of alcohol because said cousin is the king of drinking in the family. His younger sister was actually the one who got me drinking waaay back, and I always joked that if my liver ever fails me it would be her fault HAHA. (Except my liver's been so clean now so we coo we coo.)

From Hong Kong top, Basic House shorts

Ay caramba this top is so cool man. It's a button-up but the only button you find is at the collar, which is perf for me because there is just something about buttoning a blouse all the way to the top that makes SUCH a difference versus leaving the first button open. That said, I didn't have an appropriate bra for it, so I wore a lace top (it was a gift from my cousins) under it instead. Also, this top reminded me of Ana when I first got it.

Custom-made (by Alex for her thesis!) + Artwork pins, from HK necklace

GUYS JUST LET ME FREAK OUT OVER MY NECKLACE BECAUSE I REALLY WANTED A TEEF NECKLACE IN GOLD AND THIS WAS JUST SO, SO PERFECT??? Alice: Madness Returns vibes pls.

These shorts were actually a gift from my aunt (the mom of the very cousin whose despedida happened) and I thought it would be fitting to wear them since the despedida was also a joint celebration for my aunt's birthday. I love how these shorts have pleats on the front, making it look like a skirt. And the print! The print! So lovely. IT'S MEGA SHORT THOUGH LOL

There is just something about posing with an umbrella that compels you to take a jump shot.

Ugg shoes

From HK hat

I think my hat has some sort of semblance to Totoro, don't you think?

J&C Online Boutique bracelet, Forever 21 knot ring, Vintage heart ring

DO YOU SEE HOW PRETTY THIS BRACELET IS??? It's so perfectly minimal and clean and I think the silver bar looks SO GOOD with the white. Like I said in some other post, I may like obnoxious and flashy things, but there are days when I just want simplistic things, and this bracelet is like... minimalism on your wrist. Perfection.

From HK bag

This was one of the bags I mentioned in this post. I'm not even gonna re-fangirl about this. Just know that all is well.

"My Neighbor Angelo," because we live right next door to my cousin and his family. Said cousin, whom I refer to as 'Kuya Gi,' is the eldest cousin on my mom's side of the family. To be honest, we're not particularly close -- I suppose our big age gap (about 13-15 years, I think?) plays a role in this -- so his leaving didn't hit me too hard. But it still feels a little odd to not have him around; I always referred to him as the God of Liver because he was always the last man standing during our family drinking escapades.

The gravity of his leaving didn't really hit me until I saw an Instagram post of his younger sister: it was a photo of them hugging, and she was teary-eyed. I maybesortakinda choked up a bit when I saw the picture because I very rarely see these two get all sentimental with each other, so the picture of them with all these feels just struck a chord.

Clearly I'm not directly affected by his leaving; despite being relatives who are neighbors, we don't actually see each other very often, so his absence is nothing I can't handle. In fact, when I got back from Hong Kong in May, we didn't even see each other until two weeks after I had landed.

It's just that... knowing that he is on another continent now... somehow that makes all the difference.