2013

Annual post of feels and sap again! Or maybe just a round-up post of 2013 and just the significant life happenings of each month.

January
I think the most important anything that I can recall about this month was that I was running around like a chicken with its head cut off because of thesis. When I think of January 2013, the first thing that comes to mind is "thesis." I remember I was thisclose to dropping, and when I reflect on that again, the prospect is just terrifying.

February
Definitely, most definitely, the most significant thing that happened in this month was The Defense. It's been practically a year since then and I still vividly remember the entire day, from the car ride to school, to sitting on my luggage waiting for my dad to pick me up after everything. To this day I still wonder how I managed to finish my thesis and pass with flying colors. (loljk i totes just lucked out on my jury)

March
Obviously the highlight of March was graduation. Goodbye schooling life. Nearly a year later, I am finally openly saying: I miss school. I really, really miss my blockmates.

April
Actually, I think the most important thing about April is that it was the month when I started my diet. Said diet is practically nonexistent now...........................................

May
In May I went back to Hong Kong and also spent my birthday there. It was really great because prior to this trip, I couldn't enjoy Hong Kong to the full extent because I was still caught up with #THESISIT, so when I went back it was just a whole new experience again. Also, my first trip to Macau!

June
B.A.P LOE HK NEED I SAY MORE????!!!?!?

July
After years of friendship, Camille and I finally got to push through with a shoot, featuring Ana!

August
Ah, August. Emotional August. I made a very important and personal decision that month, and it has since then induced some change in my life. I am horrible at letting go of things, but abusive emotional baggage is something that really needs to be flushed out eventually.

September
September was the one month I couldn't produce a vlog for because LOL DENGUE LOL!!!!

October
I think it is worth awarding the Batangas trip with some favorite people as the Most Significant Life Happening for the Month of October. Years in the making, ebribadi.

November
THAT TIME I GOT TWITTER JAILED BECAUSE OF MY TWEET SPAM WHEN I LIVE-TWEETED ALL MY FEELS DURING MAMA 2013 LMAO

December
My favorite part of December 2013 was definitely getting to experience the freezing weather in Hong Kong. That's just something I may never experience back here, so I really embraced the cold no matter how much my head hurt or how runny my nose got.

Overall, I'd like to think of 2013 as a sort of 'me' year. I wouldn't really call it 'my' year, but more so in the sense that there was a lot of self-reflection and self-pampering this year. After overcoming the major road block (a.k.a. thesisschoolgraduation), I did a lot of traveling. Prior to this, traveling was a luxury I couldn't really afford.

I also had to rid myself of thorns that placed some deep-seated wounds over the years. It was a long time coming, but it had to be done. There are still scars in the process of healing, but I've chosen to surround myself with the best people possible to get me through the day.

I'm also really proud of myself for actually completing my monthly vlogs! September was totally an excusable absence because of my sickness at the time, and while I hardly ever posted on time, I'm really glad I continued to make these videos and so and so. When I first began that little project, I wasn't sure if I'd even hold out until the end of the year, but look now! I'm the type of person who has this tendency to leave things unfinished (I'm working on that), so for me to actually push through to the finish line and repeat the cycle is already a feat in itself.

While it's already February and I am still late with blogging endeavors, 2014 so far started on a steady note. I'll keep my resolutions to myself for now, but I really hope I follow through with them until the end of the year. (Secretly I have already deviated from some of them. Woe is I.)

I hope 2013 was a good year for you, and if it wasn't, there's still 11 months left to make 2014 a magical one. As the Koreans say it, "Hwaiting!"

did i just make insert a korean word of encouragement in my 2013 dramu post oh gods somebody stop me

December 2013

I NEVER POST ON TIME ANYMORE GO ME!!!!!!! I have so much backlog, and said backlog just continually grows because I always want to post at a certain sequence. Like this December 2013 round up post needs to be posted before the 2013 summary post, and nothing else significant can be posted before the 2013 year-end post. But it's already the end of January 2014, what can you do.

December was great. December was cold. I was in Macau for a day, and it was crazy. My mom and I had lunch there and explored Senado a little more thoroughly, as the last time we were there, we were running on a schedule. Not that this time was any different- in fact, our schedule was even tighter than last time!

Senado during Christmastime! Much fun, though the throngs of people getting in the way of proper picture-taking was a little aggravating. Hashtagtourist yo.

Mama and I had to leave about an hour before our boat was to leave, but when we got to the taxi queue we were like LOLNOPE NOT GONNA HAPPEN because it was unbelievably long, so we walked around trying to hail a taxi elsewhere. That proved to be a failure, and on the inside I was already secretly panicking because I was all WHAT TO DO WHAT TO DO WHAT IF WE MISS OUR BOAT NO WTFFFFFF and about 20 minutes had already passed... and then suddenly my mom found a pedicab stand that could take us to the docks. Kindov pricey, but we at least got to see more of Macau on the streets. The picture above was taken while we were on the pedicab so it's kinda crooked, but anyway you can see more footage of that ride in the vlog. It was great that the weather was so cool, else the otherwise Macau heat would've just made us irritable. What an adventure.

I also finally went to that 1881 Heritage place in Hong Kong because why not? It was always nearby and I had always put it off for some reason. Maybe the weather just made me less lazy to go places.

A lot of prenup/wedding shoots take place there, and I feel like there's a 90% chance of you witnessing anything wedding-related should you check out this place.

One time my mom and I had dinner at this Japanese place in Causeway Bay, and I was delighted to see Totoro there hanging on the wall. I mean... it's Totoro. Why wouldn't you be happy?

There's more footage in the vlog, so go watch if you'd like. Another thing about December 2013 was that it was my first true experience of winter in Hong Kong. (Okay, I suppose November counts.) But you get it. I remember one night -- I think the night we had that dinner in Causeway -- I was underdressed in terms of layers and I was FREEZING LIKE NOBODY'S BUSINESS. I don't really know what else to say, as I'm keeping most of my Hong Kong experience in separate posts, no matter how old and late they already are.

On the flip side, I CAN FINALLY DO MY 2013 APPRECIATION POST!! WOOP WOOP!

November 2013

November 2013 in vlog form is composed of:
• Christmas decorations were put up! As of this post, they've already been taken down, and somehow the house feels a little emptier.

• One day in November Terry picked me up so we could hang at her place, however it ended up into a very spontaneous sleepover. Literally, when I got there, her mom was like, "Ina would it be too much to ask if you could spend the night?" (because we didn't know Terry and her parents were driving off to Angeles that day) so I ended up going back home to get some stuff and spent the night at Terry's. It was a very insightful sleepover; we learned a lot more about ourselves and each other. Like, a lot. (Srsly, Terry has so much dirt on me now, it's scary.)

• Jam's birthday celebration! (Related post here.) Jam's birthdays are always fun.

• I went back to Hong Kong the day after MAMA 2013, which was such a bummer because I WAS LESS THAN 24 HOURS AWAY FROM THE AWARDS SHOW, but I compensated by checking out the Mnet exhibit and indirectly holding hands with my biases. I think it is also worth noting that I was tuned in to the awards show, and that night I live-tweeted everything to the point of getting Twitter-jailed, WHICH WAS A FIRST FOR ME AND OMG IT WAS SO FRUSTRATING BUT REALLY FUNNY AS WELL. Oh kpop, the things you do to me.

I arrived in HK at the nick of time though, because the exhibit was only going to run until the end of the week I arrived!

• I found a random cat store somewhere along the Ladies' Market in Mong Kok. ALL THE PRESHUS KITTIES PLS

• My dad and I also made it a point to finally check out Kowloon Park. We were always in the area, and always passed by it, but were also always too lazy to go see it because it was always humid. It was pretty chilly when we went back though, so it was the perfect weather to take a nice stroll in the park.

Not included in this vlog is footage from our trip to Ocean Park which was omgwtfbbq so magical and totes reinforced a panda obsession in me. Had to exclude it because the vlog was already long enough on its own, and my Ocean Park trip had a lot of documentation, enough to have its own video and so and so.

Anyway, I'll be going back to HK tomorrow, possibly for the last time ever. Or maybe the last time in a very long time? Eh wtvr, see you in the next post!

Over the Shoulder

I am probably doomed to be in permanent blogging backlog since my first post for 2014 is an old outfit that isn't even from December, it's from November. SUCH IS MY LIFE

H&M blazer, Topshop top, Human Black skirt

Oh well. So how was your New Year's? I spent mine on the toilet, removing my food and drink intake both up and down because of an upset stomach, and my first day of 2014 was mostly spent in bed nursing a migraine that I woke up with. Holla 2014 yo.

Rebel Gear ring

Vintage/Forever 21 necklaces

I wanted to get some backlog outta the way first because of my Annual Post of Sap a.k.a. my year-ender recap, and I can't do that without posting my November-December monthly recaps. So. Priorities. Looking back, I apparently made my 2012 recap post in February 2013. Maybe we should make bets on how late I'll be with my 2013 recap this time.

Loveis shoes

My shoes have whiskas your argument is invalid.

B+AB tissue box holder

Yeah that's right. My purse is a tissue box holder. You only wish you were as cool as me.

My cousin asked me some time ago what I thought about this kindov look where you wear your blazer over your shoulders. I said, "I like how it looks, and I've always wanted to try it, but... it looks kinda hassling with the restraining movement and all. I'd prolly try it at some dinner event or something...?" In the end I tried it out in the mall. Final verdict: movement isn't really all that restraining, from what I remember, though I think I did have to fix my blazer's positioning every now and then.

Oh oh casually takes this intarwebz space to pimp out a newly-launched local business: check out Noun PH on Facebook and Instagram! They're pretty new so they need all the love they can get, what with the new year and all. I like how they market their pieces like a dictionary, giving descriptions to the names of the pieces. (Welp, they're called Noun for a reason.) I don't normally make online purchases (I can probably count with my fingers just how many times I've bought something from the internet -- excluding anything K-pop because usually I tag along with a friend who's ordering) because I AM JUST NOT MADE FOR ONLINE SHOPPING BECAUSE OF MY PARANOIA so I can't really attest to any of Noun's services or wtvr, seeing as I've never bought anything from them, but I'm plugging this for a friend because I'm tryna be a better person this 2014.

Just kidding on that last part. That just makes me look like I'm doing a ~*~good deed~*~ to make me feel better about myself, and we all know I'm secretly just part of the derp squad on the inTErnEts.

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.