kininarimasu!

Or better titled as why I torture myself with scary shit.

It's the last week of October, and Halloween is in high gear. I did not grow up in a country that celebrates Halloween with costumes, so I didn't really feel the need to dress up. And it's not my thing.

From where I did grow up though, spooky and supernatural stories are generously shared during this time of year. And one of the things that caused me to keep my lights on at night lately is the Silent Hills Playable Teaser, exclusively for Playstation 4.

Yes, that is indeed Norman Reedus from Walking Dead. And a damn realistic CGI animation of Norman Reedus, in my opinion.

This is only a playable teaser, meaning it's not the full version of the game, with the full release still TBA.

If you get scared easily, or if visions stick to your mind and make it hard for you to go pee at night, then don't even think about playing this game. Or watch anything related to it.

Early this month, my friends and I watched Annabelle in the theater and Jonathan, the friend who introduced me to the wonderful world of mechanical keyboards, was talking about how he was scared shit of this game. He's been talking about it for a while, actually, and said that no matter how many times he played the game, it still scares him.

And just for kicks, I suggested while eating after the movie, that we go over to his place and watch him play it.

Well. I was in for some scary bathroom trips at night.

At the beginning of the game, you wake up in a room greeted by a cockroach. Charming. And you make your way out the door. You then enter this dilapidated hallway, with a radio announcement as your background. The guy talking on the radio says that a man killed his son, and his pregnant wife named Lisa. You see lots of seemingly disorganized memorabilia, like ripped photographs and destroyed picture frames.

You are in an L-shaped hallway, and the objective is to get out of that hallway, because, apparently, that hallway is in Lisa's house. Plot twist! Not.

It's the kind of game that you basically won't know what you're doing, or what you specifically did to make something happen. The first thing you have to do is complete this photograph on the wall, and after which you make this... baby, laugh three times. Only then will the main door open to the outside, which is just as bad as being inside anyway, since the city is a ghost town. You know, Silent Hill setting.

It is so mind tripping because the door at the end of the hallway just sends you back to your starting point, and when you do get back to where you were, something weird will have changed. I hate loop maps. The lights could suddenly turn red, the digital clock won't chime midnight, the bathroom door will open, or you  might see anything in this video:


If that did not give you a scare, I don't know what's wrong with you.

I myself didn't play the game, but I did watch my other friend play it, and I could not, for the life of me, manage to watch the screen for more than a minute. This is not for the faint of heart, I am telling you.

I also haven't played any of the other versions of Silent Hill, because I'm too much of a chicken and I would like to keep it that way.

And another thing that greatly contributed to the scare factor of this is that the graphics of the PS4 made it so seamless and realistic. If you have a PS4, or seen the graphics of the PS4 then you will know what I'm talking about. It's not the boxy 3D animation before. And imagine playing it on that gear you put over your head to make the experience a very realistic first person. That will just make me hold my pee at night til I develop kidney stones.

Needless to say, I have forgotten all about the scary movie I just watched beforehand. It was that creepy. And I didn't even watch the whole gameplay.

This I think is free on the Playstation store, so if you ever plan on playing or purchasing this when it comes out, I say best of luck to you and your bladder.

But on a brighter note, I did get this in my email a few days ago.

I just want to briefly talk about this new plaything that has been keeping me type-happy these past couple weeks, and that is my super awesome Corsair Vengeance K70 Cherry Red mechanical gaming keyboard!!!

Not the best photo, I know, but trust me, I really tried. Specially when it's a crappy iPhone 4S.

This is my first mechanical keyboard, and I really didn't even know about the different types of keyboard (in terms of model) until I visited my friend Jonathan. He's one of my more game-oriented friends and we were playing Silent Hills on his PS4 and he was chatting with our other friend for tips on how to get past that dreaded hallway.

Needless to say I tried out his keyboard on his throne that is his gaming hub. You know how some guys can get very particular about their computers, more often they'll spend more on their toys than say, a decent haircut. One of the many more mysteries about guys today that I might just never be able to fathom.

I fell in love with his mechanical keyboard. I do a lot of typing and data entry in my workplace, and you know how companies like to penny-pinch on their supplies. My work is definitely no exception, so you can tell how smooth it felt when I was typing on my friend's keyboard. He had a different model than mine, but I believe it was also a Corsair.

Having been used to membrane keyboards all my life, and being particularly happy when I first learned how to type properly (not looking at the keys and only using my pointer finger), I really enjoyed the feel of it. 

I liked how I didn't have to press the keys all the way through and has this really nice soft click when I type. I have the Cherry Red, which doesn't have that much of an audible click, compared to the Cherry Blue. Kinda helps when I play at night or do a lot of typing since my grandmother is sleeping in the room across the hall from mine. But I just really like the feel of the red, anyway.

It also has some light and sound controls, which is convenient.

Also, my old Logitech keyboard, the G110, always sticks when I play Maplestory (I have then since revived my characters) and I have died several times with that old keyboard, which is a pain and a definite major annoyance, so you can tell how much I wanted to get rid of that.

Overall, I'm really happy with this purchase, although it costs at least more than double your standard keyboard, but the investment is well worth it.

You can learn more about mechanical keyboards here, and you can buy the keyboard that I have here. Learn more about the Corsair K70 series on the Corsair website.

The right keyboard makes a lot of typing difference, which kinda makes me want to blog more often than I've already been doing, which is a plus!

Or better yet, why Filipino dramas suck.

Drama series are a big part of Asian culture, or any other culture, for that matter. They have been around for as long as I can remember, the first ones I can recall would be the historical Chinese dramas with Chinese subtitles that aired on Sunday mornings on RPN 9.

Different countries in Asia, I've noticed, have some sort of pattern or preference when it comes to which dramas they would air. Korean dramas are very heavy on the romantic side, while Japanese dramas tend to be more on the serious side, most of them being medical dramas. I haven't ventured into the Chinese dramaland, though, but maybe one day I will.

My native Philippines also has its own penchant for drama. Mara Clara was the first drama I could remember. It aired back before I was  four years old, and my mom's cousin, who babysat me, would always watch it right at 3 pm after the three o'clock habit. Always. Without fail.

But in my opinion, in my very OWN honest opinion, Filipino drama is one of the least entertaining to watch. And I'm Filipino, so I'm not being racist, standoffish, or konyo. Here's why:

1. The plot gets recycled all the time

Let me tell you some of the main gist of Filipino dramas: There will be a child that gets separated from its rich parents. That child goes to a poor family, while the real parents adopt or have another child. The child that stays with the rich parents is mean as hell, and the separated child won't hurt a fly. The rich kid bullies the other child without knowing that she (it's usually a girl) is her sibling or her parents' real child. Once she finds out, she'll be ten times meaner.

Or the typical rags-to-riches story, where someone steals all of one person's riches, and the main character gets revenge or the parents/grandparents discover one day that the main character is the true heir of their rich company. Or the whole marry-someone-rich kind of thing.

And there's always the jealous other woman/other man who tries really hard to break up the two main protagonists, and does all the means like kidnap for ransom in a warehouse, killing someone, pretend that they share a kid and blah blah blah. Or the "in" plot nowadays: adultery.

Or they could have some sort of physical deformity and they have something that would transform them into someone prettier, so their bullies would all of a sudden befriend them, or get their crush to like them. But they have a guy/girl best friend that knows about their true identity but still loves them  no matter what. Ending: the ugly person gets together with the best friend when the effects stay permanent.

Tweak in a little bit of variety, like a former flame or the husband's family doesn't like the mother, but the same old story is still there. If you've seen one, you've seen em all. Rinse, repeat.


I see a lot more variety in other Asian dramas, although some are the same or similar, and there are the endless Korean/Japanese/Taiwanese adaptations. But they are not recycled drama after drama after drama. I see more creativity from other countries because some of them are novel or manga based, and it's not the same people writing the same shit shows over and over again.

2. It's always the same actors

You will hardly see any fresh new faces on TV from the Phils. If you do, it's usually the child/grandchild/niece/nephew of some other TV star, that just looks like said TV star. Nobody really scouts for new talents or actors from acting schools, or even host auditions for outsiders. They always keep it in house or use the same actors all over again. Eula Valdez. Cherry Pie Picache. Cherie Gil. Christopher De Leon. Judy Ann. Piolo. Vic Sotto. Marian Rivera.

Or they could use "actors" from Filipino versions of western reality shows like Pinoy Big Brother, or on shows like Starstruck and Star Circle Quest, Star Magic, in which contestants are the family members of current actors, anyway.



I mean, sure, some actors in other Asian industries would use the same actors for lots of drama series, but there are some shows with new actors here and there.

3. The same actors always play the same roles

If you know actress Maricar Reyes, she always plays the rejected ex-girlfriend. Gladys Reyes always plays the bitchy girl. Coco Martin is always some poor man's son. Judy Ann Santos is always the good girl. Marian Rivera is always the protagonist paired with Ding Dong Dantes. Everyone else is just the supporting actor/actress.

I understand there are so-called 'love teams' and are very common, but other countries mix up their actors and actresses and get them to portray different roles, and people love them just as much, if not more. It just goes to show that most stars in the Philippines are one trick ponies.

4. Some aren't even really actors. They just look good.

Or have some sort of foreign background, or does some modeling gig. Take Spanish-Chinese Ellen Adarna. She's very beautiful, yes, but she got a breast surgery and all of a sudden she is now an actress. The girl can't act, she just looks good on-screen.

And did you know that Sandara Park of 2NE1, or Dara as she is more infamously known nowadays, joined Star Circle Quest back in the early 2000's and had some acting roles? She was not made for acting. She would've made Kristen Stewart proud. Her expressions were blank, she could barely speak any tagalog, yet the people would fawn over her because she's a foreigner. She'd just appear like a ditz yet she gets acting gigs. Oh c'mon. I don't know how her acting career is going for her nowadays, but those roles she used to play made me cringe.



I don't hate Dara, but for Philippine TV, it's looks over quality acting. Philippines also has its own idol-casting problem. And I think it's much, much worse.

5. Not another mermaid series...again.

I am so sick of Dyesebel. I know it's already a Philippine fantasy icon, but pleeeeease, for the love of god, we've seen enough of this goldfish. The two main channels, ABS-CBN and GMA7, both made remakes of the series. Five movies of the same character is more than enough.

Not to mention the mermaid spin-offs like Marina and Agua Bendita. Oh puh-leeeease. When will people get tired of this shit???


6. The series go on and on forever

Do you know the current (as of now) series Be Careful With My Heart? The show is still freakin' ongoing for two and a half years now. The episode count is 622. Six. Hundred. Twenty. Two. It's trying to rival One Piece's fifteen years' worth of episodes by accomplishing it in two and a half years.

And the infamous original Mara Clara had twelve hundred episodes. It started when I was four years old and didn't end until I was nine. That's five years in elementary school.

That's a common thing in Filipino dramas. An average drama would last a least a hundred episodes, and they're not even that good. They just cook up whatever situation they can think of just to make the episodes longer and longer (and more unbearable). They're not being creative anymore. They're doing half-assed episodes just to stretch the drama, instead of making shorter, top-quality ones. The succeeding episodes aren't even related to the main plot anymore. There's an episode every single day, instead of a more palatable weekly airtime.

7. It's a cliche galore

There will always be some sort of gunfight with goons that don't even know how to do their jobs. There is always a happy marriage ending, with the villain dying of gunshot (or went mental). The good family always lives in a barrio, in some countryside wearing long skirts or those farmer garbs. The rich family owns the whole land, and they can buy you, your friends, and this club. When you're portrayed as ugly, you either have a big nose, thick eyebrows, crooked teeth, dark skin, or all of that.

It never ends.



8. They talk in a prehistoric language no one ever uses

No Filipino nowadays would ever call or introduce their parents as "inay" or "ama" unless that's their nickname, or they are being really formal. No one uses "maaari", "nais", "iniibig", "minamanman" or whatever cheesy old word they can think of. No. People use "pwede", "gusto", "love", or "tinitignan", even TANGINA. No one talks like dramas in the Philippines, ever, unless you want to be called feeling or tanga.

In other dramas, some would talk how they would normally talk to others, especially in western series. The conversation flows more smoothly and natural. Filipino drama just sounds like fake crap. And the only people who would shout while in angry trysts are people in the public market.

9. The unrealistic image of poverty and wealth

In which poor area have you seen a girl with shiny, bouncy curls? They don a full makeup complete  with rosy-pink blush and eyeliner. They look as fake as their lashes. Kim Chiu and Julia Baretto both played the poor girl, yet their makeup looks better than mine on most occasions. And even in the countryside, young girls don't wear gypsy skirts or those conservative tops. It's so hot in the Philippine countryside, they would boil in those garbs. I have cousins in the country and they don't dress that way.

As for the wealthy ones, no one wears a full tux or ball gown at home, in their mansion of six million rooms, yet they're always seen lounging around in their study. In reality, rich people dress up to about looking as clean and sosyal as they can, but only a loon would dress up in ball gowns everyday.

10. The death scenes. In fact, any scene

The I-gave-everything-up-for-you scene, the what-do-you-want-me-to-do scene, the let's-bully-the-hero scene, the public ostracizing scene, the face slap scene...URGH. They're all overused and abused. The drama factor is a little too high up. There will always be one. In every episode.





And those are my main reasons for not watching any Filipino series. I don't hate it just because I'm Filipino and not proud of my country, but just because they aren't really that good. I believe you are better off watching other things that wouldn't eat up your time as uselessly as Filipino drama.

This is what appeals to the Filipino masses, but it could really use an upgrade. This may be the only entertainment most Filipinos have, and for that reason, I think they deserve more than drama garbage. Quality over quantity.

A lot of Filipinos may go all defensive after reading this and say so many negative things when their culture gets attacked, but I don't care. Filipino dramas, for me, are at the bottom of the barrel. This is my own opinion. I have experienced it first hand and it's really not my taste.

But hey, if you like it, I won't judge. I have some friends, my boyfriend's family, even my own family really loves watching those dramas. They all have TFC and GMA network subscriptions. My grandma watches it all the time.

It's just that I'd rather use my precious drama time for something more worthwhile.

This is not a review. As the title says, this is unfinished business. I like to think of this as getting the frustration out of my chest.

Koizora a.k.a. Sky of Love: A Sad Love Story. This drama has six episodes. SIX. And I can't bring myself to finish the damn. Series.

No. Just no. I can't.

My feelings can't handle it. And I'm a hormonal woman with enthusiasm for drama. I'm basically a walking bag of feelings.

I was asking my coworker who also has a liking for Japanese dramas to recommend something. We have similar tastes in dramas, so I figured her recommendations would be something I'd enjoy. She mentioned this drama and said it would be full of feels. I figured, yeah, I can handle sad dramas.

How very wrong I was.

Let me tell you a little bit about this series first. This is a sad, sad, sad story about two high school students, Mika and Hiro. Hiro is considered a delinquent in his class, in a rock band with bleached hair. Mika is an average student who still has yet to experience being in a relationship with a boy. On that fateful time that Hiro steals Mika's first kiss, she can't get him out of her head. And before she realizes it, she has fallen for him.

Apparently this was originally a novel that was published online, which then became popular enough to have a movie, drama, and manga adaptation.

I only made it to the third episode. Just halfway. Why? Because in just the first two episodes, a lot has happened. I know the feeling of getting all giddy with taking pictures with your first boyfriend, your first kiss, etc. etc. But the show has a lot more than that.

Being bullied by a boyfriend's ex is terrible. A girl's first time can be a little nerve-wracking. Getting preggers and telling your traditional parents about it is even worse.

Then losing said baby after convincing them? Might seem like a loss. But just when you think all is well, they find a tumor in Hiro's head.

Why??? Whyyyyyyy? And they even have that stupid sneak preview for the next episode where Mika is crying and the subtitles say "Don't you love me anymore?" and her dad tries to kick Hiro's ass with subs that go "You said you will make her happy!"

Fuck dammit. I already know what's going to happen and it will potentially give me a migraine the next day because I cried my guts out watching the drama.

Nope. No no no no no no no waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay.

There's no need to say that I am a big softie and will most definitely bawl away at any drama that comes my way. Heck, I cried a few times watching Fairy Tail and some episodes of One Piece during Nami's arc. How the hell do you think I will react to three more episodes of this???

I stopped because I can't. I just can't. I even had a week of vacation and told myself to finish it to get it out of my head, but everytime I was about to hit that play button, I would  dread the bawlfest I was about to jump in to. And then the week after that my normal schedule was sent topsy-turvy coz I picked up a few day shifts instead of my usual evening ones, and the only other thing I hate next to waking up early is waking up early with a headache and puffy eyes.

No. Just no.

I can't possibly give a rating for this, beacause, well, obviously, I didn't finish it. There is also a movie for this with Miura Haruma and Aragaki Yui which I didn't watch. Of course. And then again it has Miura. He's everywhere. My gosh.

Although this was a drama fail for me in terms of willpower of watching, I would just like to mention how lush Seto Koji's lips are.

Yum. Yeah, just wanted to throw that in there. You're welcome.

I will almost absolutely will favor him as Hiro more than Miura, because, you know, it's Miura.

So, this drama will remain untouched for me until I find the willpower to plough through the sadness. The tab for episode four remained untouched in my browser for a month. It might just stay there for a little while longer.

But until then...

British Columbia is beautiful. It says so on every BC plate number. I haven't been to other Canadian provinces myself, but from what I've heard from other people who have been to other provinces in Canada, or people who live somewhere else in Canada and has visited Vancity, nothing can compare to the west coast. I live in the Greater Vancouver area, meaning the area of major cities that surround the City of Vancouver itself.

Summer is here! Yes. For about a few weeks now. Count on me to be late on everything.

I am alive. Yes. I am very much alive and breathing.

I have fallen off the face of the blogosphere, but I have crawled my way back amidst renewing blog domains. Again. Hard to believe this blog is two years old and all I've posted are about... thirty entries.

Like many other posts I have put up in past. I'm really kicking myself here. I put up such a good blogging streak throughout March and April and I started to taper off by May. Damn. Why can't I keep this up?

So this is kind of a late update/post on the Sakura Days Japan Fair that I volunteered for last April 5-6. Two weeks late, but... yeah, the past weekends have been busy. I couldn't post much stuff on the day of the fair itself because I my eyes were literally closing from the fatigue. I'm not accustomed to ever waking up on any time earlier than 11 am. I haven't for a year and I don't plan on changing it, unless I absolutely must, like for a snowboarding trip. Also the weekend after that was my mom's birthday, so we went out for Korean barbecue and after that we were cooking for a church party the next day (I didn't go, I just helped cook. I'm not very religious) I just came back from Oregon during the Easter long weekend, so obviously I couldn't blog with sucky hotel/mall wifi. I've also just been loafing around the house, but mostly cleaning up and playing FFX. I'm still on vacation for another week (yay!)

Anyway. About the fair. Yes. Sadly, I couldn't take a lot of photos, I was a little busy doing my duties. The weather was bad on the first day. It rained. Like, not just a dainty little rain, it POURED. It was so cold and wet, I was eternally grateful for my rainboots and water-repellent parka, because I was stationed outside. Yes. Outside. Sigh. Oh well. For the earlier part of the day I was assigned to parking lot duties, basically just directing cars to where they're supposed to go around the drop-off area. Pretty simple task, I just didn't have anyone to talk to, so it was kinda boring. Next half of the day, I was assigned in the free photo booth just basically preparing people for their free photo. It was pretty neat, actually. It was fun watching people have their photos taken doing all sorts of poses. At the end of the day, us volunteers had our photo taken

I made friends with a girl named is Lisa. We became friends after talking about Japan and all that. She's a student here in Vancouver and she wants to improve her English and hopefully get a job. I mentioned to her about this job that Chris used to have in the Deli and I told her I would get Chris to refer her and she was ecstatic! In return, she said she would help me with my Japanese because I have been putting off learning Japanese for the longest time. I've been brushing up here and there but never consistently... It's a bit hard to learn on your own and no one to practice it with except for talking to my TV while watching anime... Lame. So, yeah. I made a friend! It's so cool because most of my Japanese friends are back in Japan and can't really help me much back here :(


Second day at the fair, the weather was sooooo nice, but I was stationed indoors. Totally ironic, but I enjoyed it nonetheless, because I was in charge of food! I was in charge of giving the volunteers their bento in the volunteer room. I got to meet lots of other people and found out their names... so that was fun. After that shift I was in the vendor hall just basically watching over people and see that they're doing alright. Here are some of the things they were selling inside:

The pictures kinda such because I was taking them with my phone so I apologize. Those weren't the only things they were selling, there were bags, chocolates, beauty products made out of sake (yes, sake!), some tables about immigrating to Japan, studying there, becoming an ESL teacher... stuff like that. Here are some of the things that I got:

I love the panda pouch ! Super cute. They were $7-8 I think, depending on the cloth lining inside. The little container is the Orizee Yuzu and Shiso Hydrating Cream and the Shiso and Roze Hydrating Toner. The brand really impressed me. I love the toner, it really does hydrate my skin. The face cream tends to get a little oily on me, probably because my skin is already a bit oily to begin with, but I think it will work great in the winter or on people with dry skin. They were a bit pricey because they make them in little batches, freshly made from sakekasu (fermented rice paste leftover from sake-making) in Granville Island, here in Vancouver. You can learn more about the brand and purchase their products at orizee.com. Input in SDJF30 on the comment box to recive free shipping (within lower mainland BC only, valid til Dec 2014).

I didn't get to try out much of the food stands because like I said, it was raining the first day and on the second day, I tried to go on my break but the line-ups were so long! I think about fifteen thousand guests were in the fair that day! I managed to get the last waffle bag from the waffle guy (I got the cinnamon flavoured one), I didn't get to taste any other flavours, which is sad because I would've enjoyed the green tea one.

Overall, I had a lot of fun and got to meet some amazing people. If you guys went there, I bet you had fun too! Sorry for the late post, and you guys can check out more photos and news at japanfairvancouver.com and see you guys next year, hopefully!

<3

Here's a little update on the Sakura Days Japan Fair happening next week--I'm officially a volunteer!

I went a little volunteer-happy this year, I went through two orientations this weekend, all in the morning, while my head was still in lala land dreaming of dreamy things but groggy from waking up at 8 am on a Sunday (I have a body clock 11 am due to my evening work schedule). I mistakenly signed up for two completely different programs at the fair! One was at the actual month-long Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival, and one at the actual Fair itself. I thought they were one and the same... but I thought wrong. Apparently, the VCBF is setting up a new *free* tent outside, just by the entrance to the gardens, which is totally separate from the fair because the fair itself is not free (there is an entrance ticket that costs about $12). I had to cancel my Sake Seminar shift because it conflicted with the Cherry Rush shift. Shame. There goes my free sake. I initially only wanted to participate on either day but... too late, and I don't want to disappoint anyone by cancelling a shift. But hey, free bento. On Saturday, I will be at the VCBF Cherry Rush tent, the free one, by the cul-de-sac at the entrance to the gardens and mostly the parking area. On Sunday, you will see me at the Great Lawn just basically patrolling and stuff.

Again, if you are interested in checking out Japanese stuff, cherry blossoms, or Japadog, PLEASE come to the Fair (no, I'm not getting paid to advertise, but as a volunteer I'm compelled to do so). It is lots of fun, not to mention yummy food. Cash only :P

Visit Sakura Days Japan Fair website for more info about the fair and the VCBF for more Cherry blossom events around town.

Happy spring time!

<3

It is that time of year again! For those of you that live in Vancouver, where I live, the annual Cherry Blossom Festival is coming again starting on April 3-28. It is one of the festivals I really look forward to these past years because it symbolizes the beginning of spring in a very Japanese setting, and I obviously love anything Japan so I'm excited about this every year!

This festival hasn't been around for a very long time, actually. I think it started in 2009 and it skipped a couple years. The first festival I attended was in 2011, and me and my friends went to the Sakura Days Japan Fair in the Van Dusen Gardens. I went with my friends Isabel, James, and Jonathan. Here are some pictures that I took at that time at the fair. In the fair is just basically lots of Japanese activities and lots of stalls of food! We really enjoyed it.

At some point within this blog, you might've been wondering: what kind of games am I going to be reviewing, and what kind of games am I really into?

Well, I'm telling you this now, I'm not a super hardcore gamer.

Hah. And you all know the reason for that. It starts with an L.

What has happened since I last posted? I blogged about The Night Circus which was easily one of my most favorite books of all time. Sidled in between Harry Potter and Almost Heaven. It deserved that rightful place. I also read Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson quite shortly after that. That one had a different feel to it, so I will talk about that sometime soon. Even though I read it about two months ago, it's still a bit fresh in my mind and I still know the gist of it. I may not accurately remember the sequences of events, but it stuck to me, and I can say it's a pretty good read. I hardly put it down and devoured it in two days. I'm either a fast reader or the book was really good. Or both. It was definitely both.

Sweeping the holidays under the rug, Chris gave me his old Samsung TV and PS3!!! Yay!!! Less blogging time! :P

He gave me a bunch of games, but it was mostly guy games. FPS and some fighting games. Other than Final Fantasy 13 and Tekken, I didn't know much, so I stored most of the games under my bed. Also, to accommodate the welcome addition to my room, I had the TV mounted to the foot of my bed and had to rearrange everything. It wasn't that big of a change, I just turned the bed around so what used to be the foot is now where the head of my bed is, just so I could connect the TV to my PC >:)

I also purchased Ni No Kuni and pre ordered Final Fantasy 10 HD Remastered. I cannot wait, since I just love FFX so much. I grew up with it, so I'm really excited. I'm also looking into purchasing Kingdom Hearts Remastered, but that would mean falling back into my old habit of buying too much games but hardly finishing any of them. A bit frustrating, actually. Gamer's dilemma (oh my god, what should I waste my time on first???)

I have also a couple games to review, so that's upcoming. I'll squeeze in as much reviews as I possibly can <3

It's normal for kids to have a short attention span. It is not, however, for a mid-twenties woman.

I have a problem, and it needs fixing. Badly.

I recently watched an episode on National Geographic on how our brain functions when faced with certain stress. There was the ice cream parlor situation. They said that when a person comes to an ice cream parlor and faced with three flavors, compared to about fifteen, they said that the one with the less choices is easier for the brain. That's because when faced with a lot of choices, it's hard for us not to think of what ifs if we chose the other flavor. It's hardwired in us to always think that we're missing out on something if we chose one over the other.

Which is my current complex.

I am currently playing Pokemon X (yay!)

But I also want to read my Murakami books, some I borrowed from the library, watch anime, watch Game of Thrones.

But there's obviously one problem.

I want to do them all at once. And of course, that's impossible.

AAAAAARGGHHHH!!!

I guess I just have to stick to one. But I don't know what! The thrill of playing the game draws me in, but I also have to return these borrowed books, I want to read the books that have been sitting on my desk since forever, I want to watch stuff on Crunchyroll and Netflix coz I pay for them, I just bought Rune Factory 4 and Shin Megami Tensei 4 as well! Not to mention I haven't played Kingdom Hearts, Theatrhythm Final Fantasy, Cooking Mama 4, and I am halfway through Pokemon Black 2!

Oh my god, I am about to explode.

Now since I'm in a blogging mood, I'm finally going to blurb about my Hawai'i trip! Yes, I've been lazy for that long, it took me a month to get excited to blog about it.

Anyway, it was my first time to the Islands, and the first time for Chris too. And so far it's the happiest place I've ever been to! Hawai'i is just so filled with aloha and the people are so relaxed and are just going with the flow. Sometimes I can't believe it's part of the US. It's definitely one of my favorite states. Majority of the tourists were Japanese though. Their numbers are equivalent to the number of Chinese people in Vancouver: to the point that signage is translated to Chinese. And of course, there's no shortage of Filipinos either.

When Chris and I landed and got to our rental car, we were floored with the prices of the accommodations! Rental cars, hotel fees (valet was mandatory) and we booked the cheapest hotel possible and it still shocked us! Vacations can be expensive, especially in tourist trap places. When we finally settled into our room we were like... Shit. I wanna go home now. Our money was half spent and we just landed. But we bit it out and forced ourselves to enjoy the week. At the end of the night we were just laughing at ourselves with what we have gotten into.

As the week progressed though, we found out that it wasn't so bad. In fact, we managed to save a lot with our Go Oahu card with all the attractions we managed to squeeze into our 9-day itinerary. Turns out those were the only things that were expensive: hotels, activities, and rental cars. I mean, tourism, after all, is one of Hawai'i's main sources of income. With the card we saved about $200 with all the activities we wanted to try. I highly recommend it if you're traveling to Oahu (unfortunately they don't have one for Maui).

I'll let these pictures do the talking now:

Day 1 at Ala Moana Beach. Just decided to chill.

Okay, so my birthday is coming up somewhat soon (August), and even though it's only June, it's already crossed my mind because Chris and I are going to Hawaii for my birthday (yay!). He paid for the whole thing (I truly have the best guy in the world. Do not argue.) as a birthday present for me. I've been *trying* to slim down and such, like cutting calories, but I'm not too concerned with it.

Somewhat.

What has just stuck me as of now is that I'm turning older. And I mean significantly, like I'm not a teenager/partying/clubbing/drinking youth anymore. I'm turning into a full-fledged adult. Doing those were okay in the early twenties, but people have to outgrow it at some point. I know I may still be a little bit immature, and part of me still wants to keep clinging to my youth. But you eventually get to a point where your opinions change, your viewpoints are a complete 180 from how it was only a few years back, you don't hang out with the peers you used to have. Your idea of fun has changed. The thought of being socially accepted all the time doesn't sound as appealing as it used to be. Like, you're being more independent and other people's opinions don't matter as much anymore.

I'm getting somewhat a quarter life crisis.

I have just started reading the Harry Potter books again, like I have mentioned in the end of my Fifty Shades of Grey review. I grew up with Harry and his friends since in sixth grade, ever since one of my friends lent me Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

Rereading these books is very nostalgic for me, having gone through most of high school treating the school like it was Hogwarts. Camille (my friend who lent me the book) even had her dad get us matching Harry Potter pens (yellow lightning bolt-shaped pens that lit up as you wrote) and a little pouch of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans each. The pepper flavored one was horrendous, I must tell you that.

My other friend, Nicole, and I would even pass notes to each other imitating Harry and Ron's handwriting (I copied Harry's, Nicole had the same loopy writing as Ron), pretending it was owl post. I think I may have some of those letters hidden in my memory box somewhere underneath my bed. Now that I look back, we did seem a little silly. But it was high school. It was fun, we were young. I even have a copy of (Nicole's) Quidditch Through The Ages and Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them and (my own) Tales Of Beedle The Bard.

To put us as Potter lovers would be an understatement. We were freaks. Hahaha! Ultimate nerdos if you will. We would even criticize the movies when they came out, saying, that didn't happen in the books, or it was supposed to be this way... I mean, of course books were always more detailed than the movies, otherwise the film would be six hours long if they adhered 100% to the books. Ah, but shortcuts were never acceptable to Potterers. It had to be the way it was in the books; anything else beneath that was unthinkable.

And how could I forget my ultimate, undying, ever resurfacing crush on Tom Felton (saying his name still makes something stir in my insides xD). He just played Draco so well, it was infatuation at first sight. And it did not subside until about I reached twenty. Oh my goodness, I am getting all giddy and giggly as I'm typing this out (click on his name. Do it.). He looked fuckin' dreamy in those two photos on that link. I could still say that he still has my panties in a knot. Chris, I hope you are not reading this :P but if you are, chill out hun, it's just a crush. And what are the chances of me meeting him? But then again you never know.

ANYWAY, I'm currently on Prisoner of Azkaban, having devoured Chamber of Secrets in two (working) days. Having not read them for about ten years, I do get surprised at some parts and even forget what happened in some scenes. It's like reading the whole series anew like I have never read them before. It's actually fun. Earlier I was finishing Chamber while Chris was playing RF Online in his room. We even skipped watching Sword Art Online because I was so engrossed in reading and he fell asleep waiting for me to finish (Sorry, hun, we'll get to that sometime this week). I've even restarted watching the movies. Gosh, Radcliffe was so young! And Tom still had big two front teeth. So cute. You can also tell in the other movies that they're hitting puberty, especially in the third and fourth one. Their voices were breaking and their faces were getting kinda mature.

Still, the magic of Harry lives on and I think it will be one of the most remembered books of all time. His magic left a scar in my heart and memory that will sometimes twitch in reminiscence of all that happened to me with Harry in my younger years.

Relive the Magic!

<3