ends & beginnings

spring is here. almost. DST spring forward has already occurred, however, LA failed to get the memo that it’s supposed to be warm. fret not, it finally got the message and will be warming up this week. btw, i don’t buy this fucking daylight savings crap. of course man will decide to change time instead of adjusting our schedules to fit the seasons.. duh.

a few of the tv shows i keep up with have ended (seasons & series). i don’t know what to do with myself now. tv is my oldest friend. i grew up on the couch. sure, i played outside and rode my bike and had friends, but i loved watching tv. my parents worked late, my older siblings stayed out often, but no worries. i had my trusty television. i would even watch infomercials and occasionally persuade my mum to buy something that caught my fancy. like a 3D dinosaur walkman with a color scheme of purple, green and orange. not sure why i thought it was a good idea. if i was in a scaredy cat mood (95% of the time since i like scaring myself by watching horror movies and the such), i would sleep with the lights on and the tv on, lulling me into a frightful slumber. wait. i am not here to talk about my lonely and neglectful childhood. i want to talk about my tv shows.

friday night lights: SERIES ENDED. one of the best shows ever. i didn’t fall in love with the show at first; i was doubtful of its shaky cinematography and lack of glitz. it won me over with its raw emotions, honesty, and real characters. i don’t think i can reiterate how much i love this show.

clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose.

greek: SERIES OVER. this show was never particularly spectacular. however, i could relate to part of the show being a former member of the greek system and it was pretty funny usually. one of my new life goals is to duct tape someone to the wall.

no self-respecting college student will drink out of a red cup with a straw

pretty little liars: SEASON 1 DONE. over summer, i would visit marine parade library near my house (in singapore) and borrow books. i am not a self-respecting college graduate, so i would traipse over to the “young adult”/”teenage” section to pick out trashy books. being an ex-greek, you can trust on me to judge books by their covers. naturally, pretty little liars caught my eye and i started on that series. i never got very far since you’d have to wait forever or have really good luck to be able to borrow the next book in order when you return the previous one. so when the tv series came out, of course i had to watch it. i hate it. but i still watch it. i want to find out what happens next. i NEED to know who A is. i hate aria the most, she is a self-absorbed, self-important bitch. i like emily fields the best but only cos she’s attractive. this girl cannot act. she has a perpetual frowny face. goddamn it. i know i am gonna waste an hour every week watching this when season 2 comes out.

melodramatic teenage girls

weeds: SEASON 6 OVER. i love the title of the last episode – theoretical love is not dead. the new season premieres this summer. so many reasons to watch this show: 1. mary louise parker – stars as nancy botwin, milf for sure (boobies action in the show); 2. hunter parrish – plays cute teenage son of nancy, silas botwin; 3. marijuana – if you’re green that way (i recommend this vegan website for good eats – the vegan stoner); 4. highly inappropriate shit in general. not gonna lie, the first few seasons were definitely better, but this is definitely one of my favorite shows. i find myself relating to nancy botwin a lot. i won’t tell you in which ways.

weeds

jersey shore: SEASON 3 ENDED. i know you are pretending to recoil in horror right now, getting all judgey about the fact that i partake in this national pastime. stop right there. don’t pretend like you don’t tune in religiously to mtv at 10p.m. every thursday night. its season finale drew in a record 7.6 million viewers (highest in its demographic). the rest of you will watch it on demand. i started out being a hater too but i have since been converted. haters gon’ hate till they start watching it. i am unashamed and i am prepared to stick by my seaside heights crew even if they burn down half of europe during the filming of season 4.

couldn't find a picture with deena the other meatball, gotta make do with angelina

i’m kicking off april/spring with in vegas. PSYCHED. i’ll return with a new entry assuming i’m still alive by the end of the trip. i don’t really plan to be. goodbye for now.

(credits: x x x x x)

 

a post just so i can at least fulfill one resolution

the title says it all. quick update on how my resolutions are coming along -

1. i’ve cooked a few dishes.. not sure if i do cook real shit once a week though. favorite foods for this month: corn and cauliflower.
2. the only reason why i am writing this post. not feeling particularly witty nor do i have any good stories to tell.
3. wells fargo tracked me down after months of hunting me = time to repay my student loan. also, i have not been keeping track of my expenses. promise to self to do february’s accounts next week.
4. this went to shit cos my shitty ass camera died. well it didn’t exactly die. i can look at my screen when i am scrolling through pictures of even when i’m taking a video, but the screen appears black when i’m trying to take a picture. this is another one of God’s “funny” jokes. you know, i do have a viewfinder. let me try to use a digital camera old-school style this weekend. i’ll tell you how shitty the pictures turn out.
5. in progress. still not an illegal immigrant yet.
6. in progress.. 1 steps forward, 2 steps back.
7. i still roll out of bed, change into shitty ass clothes and drive 2 minutes to work (yes, i live that close to work. yes, i can walk. yes, i still choose to drive.). i attempt to make up for this with a tad more style on the weekends. by tad more style i mean, i am not mistaken for a bag lady or a barefaced freshman dining at the cafeteria on sunday morning.
8. how does one measure diligence?
9. my sugar intake has generally decreased, except the week before and after valentine’s day where my sugar levels increased approximately by 2835%. it doesn’t count, especially if it’s chocolate on sale, right?
10. yes, love all around. truly blessed.

how did you spend valentine’s day? different types of people react very differently to this holiday.

A. someone who is in a relationship or pseudo-relationship and LOVES valentine’s day. expects  his/her partner to go all out with flowers/chocolates/presents/surprises. usually will do the same for his/her partner unless they are stingy/miserable gold-digging bitches. girls make up 99% of type A.

B. someone who is in a relationship or pseudo-relationship and HATES valentine’s day. knows or thinks that his/her partner expects to go all out with flowers/chocolates/presents/surprises. sometimes fear disappointing the other person, but most usually fear for their bank account. guys make up majority of type B.

C. someone who is single and likes valentine’s day. commonly happy-go-lucky, can be seen purchasing hershey’s kisses from target and valentine cards for friends & family. girls make up majority of type C.

D. someone who is single and forgets about valentine’s day. this person doesn’t shop at target, shops or malls who are aggressively this pink & red holiday, is oblivious to his/her surroundings, lives in a cave, has dementia, or is actually married to his/her game console (PS3, XBOX, computer – WOW, COD, etc).

E. someone who is in a relationship or pseudo-relationship and forgets about valentine’s day. this person will find him/herself fucked unless the other person is a type B or type E. punishment lasts from a month to a lifetime. other person will use this as evidence in future arguments, “CLEARLY YOU DON’T LOVE ME. you didn’t buy me flowers/chocolates/presents on valentine’s day in 1994. I HATE YOU.” -slams door in face-

F. someone who is single and HATES valentine’s day. can often be heard protesting how this holiday is just a commercialized holiday propagated by hallmark, florists and chocolate makers such as hershey’s. common complaints: “this stupid holiday is sooo retarded. it’s just an excuse for people to get presents/eat fattening food/for companies to earn money.” – yeah, because thanksgiving/halloween/christmas/insert other big holiday is so different; “people shouldn’t only express their love each other on this day.” – why do you celebrate birthdays then? why don’t you give thanks everyday for being born onto this earth? these people are usually bitter individuals who are unable to find love at that point of time. once they are in a relationship, they commonly evolve to type A.

G. someone who proposes to his/her partner on valentine’s day. this person is unoriginal and/or forgot the real relationship anniversary and hence could not use that date to propose. either consciously or subconsciously cheap because he/she has eternally lumped valentine’s day together with engagement day and does not have to celebrate those two occasions separately again.

H. someone who does not really care about valentine’s day. he/she portrays neutrality towards this holiday – will be glad to receive flowers/chocolates/presents/surprises but does not mope/complain/commit suicide if nothing happens. will not think twice about purchasing valentine’s day candy on sale the day after the holiday. not the romantic sort, either due to innate nonchalance or traumatizing emotional experiences in the past. type H does have the ability to evolve into most types, but probably not type G.

note: some types may overlap. some people may also jump from type to type.. possibly bipolar individuals.

i’m currently obsessed with rainbow hair. i am determined to make it happen this year or next year. let me live in my delusions that i am secretly a my little pony.

 

rainbow hair

in exciting food-related news, in case you were wondering, yes, mold does favor follow your heart’s vegan cream cheese if you take your time to use the tub. fuck you mold, i was just trying to save some money and ration my cream cheese usage. yeah i know, i managed to shit out a long post talking about nothing in particular after all.

(credits: x x)

 

merry christmas, baby ♥

christmas is my favorite holiday! hot chocolate, family, friends, presents, starbucks holiday drinks, food, spiked hot chocolate, carols, christmas movies, spiked cider, and encouragement of fashion faux pas such as ugly christmas sweaters and red & green in the same outfit. i am that girl who will sing along to mariah carey’s “all i want for christmas is you” in the store while browsing through dresses. and then sing it again when i hear it in the neighboring shop.

poster children for christmas

every year, i have a favorite carol.. the honor for this year goes to: baby, it’s cold outside. glee’s version here. YES I STARTED WATCHING GLEE. i had to give the show a chance since it was created by ryan murphy who produced popular. well i don’t know about you guys but popular was one of my favorite tv shows when i was younger. top five, hands down. in the ranks of buffy the vampire slayer. here’s a review of popular on robwillreview.com (we all love creative URLs). popular showed late at night in singapore and i would force myself to stay up to watch it. that was my dedication to the kooky show. like many great shows, it was canceled. other shows i love that were canceled include pushing daisies and arrested development. WHY?!?!?!  i have digressed..

ok, so i celebrated with secret santa exchanges, holiday parties, family time and a nightmare before christmas night. the secret santa exchanges were filled with ridiculous but somehow awesome gifts. examples include a boobs-shaped ice luge, a deformed monster baby (it was fucking freaky), a disco ball, an appropriate “nice jewish guys” calendar, an even more appropriate “i’m a terrible designated driver” t-shirt, an inappropriate set of penis lollipops, an inappropriate but probably useful set of matching couple candy underwear, and the most inappropriate justin bieber CD that most appropriately ended up being pete’s gift (running joke but also accurate description that pete, or at least his hairstyle, closely resembles justin bieber).

christmas love

yep we wore matching nightmare before christmas footie pajamas

i baked and made nothing this year for christmas.. shame on me. we did whip up some patties from vegetarian crumbles and i also spent unnecessary money at whole foods because of my number one ailment, laziness. i was too lazy to even buy a damn tofurkey and roast it. i will strive to have a more martha stewart (vegan) christmas this year.

requisite asian pose for a merry photo

 

hard halloween 2010

i know this is a few months late, but i did say halloween deserved a post by itself! we started off the weekend with a lovely brunch at BLD.

we waited for 45 minutes or so for a table, as we didn’t make reservations because i thought it was just gonna be 3 people and you only need a reservation for 6 or more. i don’t know if it was the hunger that made the food taste THAT much better, but hands down, this was the BEST brunch all six of us ever had. i got the vegan benedict with fingerling potatoes. amazingballs. someone else got the regular benedict, jenn ordered some french toast with bacon thing which came with pure maple syrup in a house.. too cute. i don’t remember what everyone else had. two large orders of french pressed coffee for us.. best coffee we have ever tasted. the starbucks we had the next day only serve to mock us that we couldn’t have BLD coffee every day.

vegan benedict

outside BLD - we're in couple outfits (green, red, black)

and off we were to hard halloween at the shrine. my first hard event.. well besides hard summer 2009 which was a fucking fail as we got into the venue for about 10 minutes before the riot police shut it down. we did get a refund but we did not get back the time wasted. day 1 was great! fun times. despite a minor hiccup but i am already used to epic awkward situations in my life. i figured i’m God’s favorite comedy channel. people loved the fur on my outfit.. i had an epic leopard tail.

carbon, silver, gold.. GEDDIT?

jester/leopard/gold

cute girl with disinterested boyfriend

bubble girl

day 2 had even better music than the first! i got drunk and was already hungover by the time we got to the line for hard. fuck you, four loko. our relationship was never the same since that night. guest DJ was miike snow who was great! it got really sweaty inside though..

second day

natalia painted this herself!

i love halloween! getting dressed up and seeing people in cute/creative/outrageous/skankalicious costumes. can’t wait for halloween this year.. start thinking of what you’re gonna be! it’s never too early!

 

2011 resolutions + hopes

can you believe i’ve had this blog for over a year and have written practically nothing on it?! it’s four days into the new year and i have not sat down to really think about my resolutions either. most people don’t keep most of their resolutions. we promise ourselves to floss every meal, and we start out the new year harboring no food particles between our teeth. a month goes by, and we start flossing only before bed, because work/school keeps us so busy. plus what is the point of flossing if i am going to eat a damn muffin in half an hour? then you start getting so tired at night, you only floss once a week. the floss runs out and you don’t get a new pack, so you stop flossing at all. the new year comes and you go to the dentist who shakes his head at the dismal state of your teeth or what is left of them, and you promise yourself to floss again. that is the cycle of our resolutions. nonetheless, each year we hope that we will be able to keep to at least one, if not some, of them.. and this year is no different for me.

2011 resolutions

☮ cook at least one real meal a week – this means no instant noodles, no simple pastas, no microwaveable shit
☮ blog at least once a month
☮ better manage personal finances – monthly tracking, paying off shit, making worthy investments
☮ take more and better pictures – thinking of getting an olympus pen and more lomos
☮ get my visa/avoid getting deported to singaland
☮ lose all the “cute” baby fat i gained in 2010
☮ dress nicer at least on two work days per week – even not looking like i just rolled out of bed is considered “nicer”
☮ be more diligent – work, friendships, life, etc
☮ eat better – less sugar
☮ loveee

hopes for 2011

♥ visit at least one new place
♥ pay off USC to get my physical diploma
♥ obtain my work visa
♥ new camera(s)
♥ find an awesome roommate (hopefully it’ll be jackie!)
♥ attend at least one music festival (coachella? ultra?)
♥ work hard, play hard!

(credits: x x)

 

shenanigans

i’ve been up to no good almost every weekend. or perhaps it’s every weekend.

my girls and mike the couch

mike's sister - susan

NYU & UCLA.. psshhh

rest assured, i did “cultural” things, such as going to concerts.. such as lady gaga and hard haunted mansion 2010 (halloween deserves a separate entry!).

lady gaga living up to her name

and then contributed to more of America’s growing culture, such as celebrating jenn’s 21st with the classic classy visit to the 9-0, punctuating our nights with Four Loko (don’t worry about the ban/change in formula, our friends have cases stocked up), beer bonging, going to block parties, and the such.

jenn's birthday lava cake (not vegan)

matching eyeshadow & four loko

 

tryna get my vitamin C while sick

self-explanatory

alcohol + skate ramp = good idea?

after-party beer bongs

complimentary cotton candy at saddle ranch (vegan?)

i am also pleased to announce that my awesome little sister (sorority, not blood) jessica and her friend started this amazing new website that caters to healthy eating and weight loss! i am also a featured writer on it, but albeit a lazy one as i have not put up a new entry in a long time. i promise to change this. there are different “diets” on this website, as well as guest articles, a forum, a place where you can reveal food secrets etc. you can find out more for yourself at www.whatstheskinnie.com!

to further prove my laziness and my horrible excuse of a determination to blog, i actually started this entry 45 days ago. conveniently, new year’s day is located just around the corner and i can make new resolutions that i will probably break. so enjoy the last remaining hours of 2010, i know i will. please pray that i will live to see 2011, thanks!

 

 

autobiography

how early is it too early to write an autobiography? for some strange and bizarre and nondrug-related reason, i am inspired to start writing about my life. is my life inspiring? probably not. is it occasionally tragic? yes. is it a big joke most of the time? yes.

i want to start on my autobiography right now before i start losing my memories to old age or loss of brain cells due to alcohol/other drug consumption. is it going to be completed any time soon? no. why? 1. i am a huge procrastinator; 2. i am OCD and probably have to edit and re-edit this shit 501837134 times; 3. i am not going to release this epic shit until i am rich and famous. when i am rich and famous and successful etc etc etc, people would naturally want to read about me, right? hahahahah. and then by that time it does not matter what i say in my autobiography because people will either a) love the shit out of it, b) hate it, or c) be confused by it. if option b happens, it is ok. because i am so rich that i will take any lawsuit that flies my way. or have a publicist to silence these protests. or secretly hire a sniper to snuff out the annoying people bringing down the 5-star rating of my autobiography.

i wish i could tell you that you can pre-order my autobiography on amazon right now but it’s gonna be some super classified information (with occasional leaks that will increase publicity) for now.

 

reinvigorate

i have been reading my old blogs (!) and although it was partly traumatizing, it was also nostalgic and strangely reinvigorating. i used to blog with much more abandon and carelessness than i do now. because when i used to blog, it was more of an outlet to talk to myself but here i feel compelled to present appropriately to an audience. the irony in it is that a lot more people used to stalk me than they do now, now that i have fallen into obscurity.

tried out native foods at westwood the other day for the first time. the oklahoma bacon cheeseburger was bombbb. sorry, i ate it and it was a good three days before i remembered i should have taken a picture of it. my greediness precedes my desire to be a food blogger. also gobbled down a vegan sprinkles red velvet cupcake before dinner. dessert before dinner, just the way it was meant to be.

i remember a few years ago when a few of us innocent girls ventured into a sex shop in lucky plaza at orchard road, singapore, with great intention and determination of finding the perfect birthday gift for a lovely friend of ours. it is with pleasure and pride that i tell you, our present was indeed appropriate and has not been banished to the attic or store room where useless or unwanted material things are kept. it was with this same great intention and determination that i stepped into the pleasure chest (with another girl friend), located on a busy road in hollywood but kept discreet with its lack of windows and tacky signs. because i am all-knowing with awesome intuition, again another friend walked away with a purchase that i know was worthy and kept up to its claims. i feel like such an accomplished friend.

my time in singapore was great, and now i am back in the smoggy city of LA.

 

graduation and homecoming

in my absence on this blog, A LOT has happened. as i sit here in my room, struggling not to switch on the air-conditioning in this heat and humidity, i am still trying to absorb everything that is going on in my life. firstly, i graduated! woo! so surreal. i still can’t comprehend the fact that i am an alumnus now and not an undergraduate. i will probably be one of those creepers who still hang around and party at USC after graduation. there, i said it.

i’ll probably throw in some pictures some other time when i actually upload them. the fam visited me and we went around LA, vegas and san francisco. plenty of fun but being with my family always takes tremendous patience on my part.. well actually i just get really frustrated and bitch a lot but it’s ok, we’re family.

then i came homeee to singapore! this has been surreal like no other. i haven’t been home in two years, and so much has changed. if you know anything about singapore, it’s always changing. orchard road, the place i knew like the back of my hand, has been completely transformed. we added a couple of integrated resorts with casinos and there’s even universal studios. whaaat! i will visit lots of places like a tourist during my time here. i will be exploring my vegan options here as well.. oh how i miss $2.50 brown rice with two side dishes. yesss cheap food nomnomnom.

the weather has been particularly unbearable for me. heat and humidity and rain whenever the sky feels like it. bad combinations. plus people who have been living in socal long enough just don’t know what to do with rain.

my job hunt is still going on.. wish me plenty luck! xo

 

2010

yes it is a new year! and i have procrastinated to blog for about two months now.. it’s really not that bad, considering i take up to six months or so to reply emails and facebook messages. no, i am not exaggerating.

many changes in my life. remember i was freaking out about paying for school? i am freaking out less now (though i still need to find out how i can pay for this semester – stripping is much too tiring for me, i don’t last that long in heels), and things have kinda worked out. i am giving up my business degree (oh goodbye marshall!) and graduating this semester with my environmental studies (chemistry) degree. if you know anyone who will hire me, PLEASE DO TELL ME. i am ready to be a slave etc, and all value for money too. spread the word, people.

my most awesome class this semester (or all 3 years of college) appears to be senior seminar for environmental studies. we take a bunch of field trips, discuss about the environment, and i think there was some kind of individual project involved somewhere. or research paper. i don’t know, but our first field trip to santa catalina island was fucking awesome. if you knew me, you would know that even though i am a hippie at heart, i am inherently a spoiled child and am one of those girly girls. i was excited for our 3-day-2-night trip, but also nervous that i could drown while snorkeling, break a leg while hiking, get eaten by a bison (yes i know they are probably herbivores), or break my acrylic nails. rest assured, none of the above happened and i still have my acrylic nails on.

with the new year, comes new things. two years ago, i found a camera at a rave. and this year i actually bought the battery charger for it!!! yes!!! so i have a working camera now. i took pictures on my class field trip to catalina, so be prepared for pictures of the scenery, plants, and animals. not very many humans. i also forgot to change the picture size/resolution, so the photos may appear tiny. i will just post a few here.. the rest are up on facebook.

sea star with its stomach out ewww

view from wrigley institute

sea hare kissing a shell muaaa*

crabby

supposedly the rib of a blue whale

hill that looks like a wavy top turban

looks like a road to nowhere in alice in wonderland

even though bison are often an attraction for tourists to visit catalina, they are, in fact, non-native and are harmful to many of the native plants there while promoting invasive species. they were introduced during a filming of a movie and were never removed. a more appropriate icon for catalina will be the island fox but unfortunately i didn’t see one when we were there!  hopefully we will get to see one the next trip.

bison

beautiful

oh no.. we are climbing up stuff

i am INSANELY afraid of heights. a few months ago, i would have calculated that i wouldn’t be able to get down safely, and hence would not have gone up at all. but this time, i was like, whatever. it’s a cool place to die.

yay i made it to the top!

although i must tell you, i did kinda crawl up to the top. on my way down, i sled on my butt as i did not trust my balance enough to walk down like a normal person.

bench

yeah yeah, i know – if i were to be all vegan-PC, it would read “sitting on this bench with a veggie grill cheeseburger and soy vanilla shake is one of my favorite things to do.” R.O.

because of the introduction of non-native animals, such as mule deer, and plants that are often invasive, many measures are put in place for restoration and conservation. carlos from the conservancy gave us a very interesting and informative lecture, and then we visited the nursery that grew native plants for various purposes, like selling them to people for landscape.

grow grow grow!

snowflake

snap dragons

some kind of sunflowers?

lunching on a cliff

and after that lunch, we waited for our boat to take us back to reality. i can’t wait to go back again in 2 weeks’ time! but the freshman class will be joining us grrr. we have small class of 9 people and an awesome professor who brought along beer and wine for us. we went snorkeling on the first day which was amazing! and also kayaking before lunch on the last day which was really fun. a great partner is key to fun kayaking experiences.

i made snickerdoodles for the first time! i haven’t really had snickerdoodles, but from everyone’s review, these are pretty good. i never pick snickerdoodles as a cookie flavor, because i will always pick the triple chocolate chocolate with chocolate chips and all things chocolate kinda flavor.

snickerdoodles

made pizza from scratch too! got the beer crust recipe from cute and delicious, and then added pizza sauce, eggplant, mushrooms, onions, and sundried tomatoes for all-around goodness. i have some leftover dough so i am making some more pizza for lunch and dinner later!

vegan beer crust pizza

in other news, i am temporarily widowed as lonnie is now studying abroad in florence, italy. because i know he is narcissistic and loves all types of attention, go read his blog at lonizzle.wordpress.com.

ahhh! it is 100 days from graduation. i will feel more excited about it when i actually have a job offer. it is time for me to return to my exciting chemistry lab report now, till the next time!