Just Another Post

Ah, finally! It's the weekend again, and it's a three-day one, too. Sucks that I still have to study and do some stuff for class. Oh and also, I can't really go out much since it's been raining so hard (and for long periods of time, too) that I've been wondering whether I should take my boogie board out and ride the street waves. To make matters worse, the CD we waited almost 2 hours for after class containing the project files my partner and I need to work on is being read as a blank disc even though there really is data on it. Err.

On the plus side, it was fun singing random Mulan songs in class as we waited for our respective project CD's. After all, what's better than a movie that teaches kids that if you go against the wishes of your parents, join the army and pretend to be a man, you will find true love? That being said, here's one of my favorite parts from the movie:

Largely due to the fact that Shang has his shirt off the whole time.

I still get goosebumps when Mulan climbs that pillar and grabs that arrow and I'm still amazed at how everyone is suddenly so awesome at everything once she does so. I must definitely work out to this song and pretend I'm training to defeat the Huns!

I'd like to stay forever, 

Game Face On!

I spent the entire long weekend actually reading and trying to understand (and not just glancing at) books and handouts about Language, Voice, Audiology, Anatomy and Physiology, etc. etc. and my idea of a break means searching for the meanings of new terminology on the internet. FML.

Looks like this is how I'm going to be spending the rest of this year. Sigh. Oh well, I'm just going to have to make myself believe that I'm doing this to be able to help a lot of people in the future. Wish me well, dear readers, followers, stalkers, lurkers. I love you guys!

Sincerely,

Go Gecko Go?

While lazily attempting to read something for class last night, I decided to go grab a box of cereal (What? I love snacking on breakfast foods at non-breakfast times) and munch on some to help me stay awake. Guess what greeted me as I pulled back the cereal box flaps?

This. It's like animals are determined to give me heart attacks. (Remember the pigeon?)

It's a gecko, I think. Grayish-whitish in color. The little guy nearly made me jump out of my skin. Understandable since I wasn't really expecting those beady eyes staring up at me from the cereal box. With my shaking hands, I managed to snap the above picture. Of course, I then began thinking of ways on how I was going to get him out of there and out into the garden without a) touching him and b) him getting spooked and dropping his tail which will then wiggle and convulse like it has a mind of its own and will gross me out forever (I'm assuming it's a him). Not knowing what the heck I was going to do, I poked the box. Bad idea. That gecko just darted out of there like a reptile version of Speedy Gonzales. I darn well screamed my lungs out as it zoomed across the room, barely missing my feet. I jumped onto the couch in the room and realized the gecko had come to a stop at the foot of said couch.

gdhjabdharha!

What was I supposed to do now that the gecko was out of the box? As I pondered this for a moment, I looked back and realized it was. . .gone. Therefore, as I am typing this, there is a gecko loose somewhere in my room. I just hope it sticks to eating bugs and would not resort to staring at me from the ceiling as I sleep.

Toodles, 

Insidious Was Sooo Scary (Sarcasm Detected)

Last night I got a chance to sit down and watch Insidious. I didn't watch it in the theater, just on my 3 year old laptop, There were a lot of good reviews about it and almost everyone was calling it probably the best horror movie they've ever seen. Being a big horror movie buff, I was sort of expecting it to be well, one of the best horror movies I would ever see. I didn't know how wrong I was. I know it was a bit low-budget but there are a lot of awesome low-budget films and this was not one of them.

The opening credits were nice and creepy. I had settled down under the covers and was starting to feel creeped out already. So basically this movie is about some kid who goes into some sort of coma which doctors can't explain. Shortly after, things start happening around their house and his mother starts seeing apparitions, even his brother and his baby sister are affected. They move out, only to find that whatever was at their old house had followed them to their new house. In a moment of desperation, the dad's mother (the grandma) calls in some experts (and by experts I mean two nerdy guys with one of them sporting a horrible beard and an old lady) to help out. Turns out, the kid can do astral projection or something and was now stuck in another dimension called "The Further". The plot thickens when grandma reveals that her son had the same experience when he was a kid and he was his son's only hope now. The plot is sort of good, could have been better, but I was expecting the film to handle it well, nonetheless. Nope.

Quite frankly, I laughed for more than half of the movie. The main bad guy was a cheap knock-off of Darth Maul. Frankly, I think Darth Maul is way scarier than him since he at least had a lightsaber (and that's pretty awesome) and that character from Insidious had a goat's ass.

On one hand, we have a Sith Lord, on the other, a stoned guy 

with Halloween facepaint screaming that the tree is eating the sky. 

Many parts of the film were downright comedic, from the old lady wearing a gas mask to the dad's wrestling match with one of the extras from Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Also, the movie is like a bad rip-off of Poltergeist, with touches of other stuff from films like The Shining, etc. The shrieking violin sound effects were highly overused in the film, as was the fog machine. The acting (especially from that guy that got his balls cut off by Juno) was bland and unconvincing. Although I sort of liked the psycho family living room scenes and the way a lot of the characters sported Joker-esque smiles. But the thick (obviously fake) make-up on the characters and their oooh-I-don't-know-if-I'm-a-zombie-or-a-ghost-or-whatever walk, as well as the stupid scary decor in "The Further" part just made everything look like a cheap haunted house attraction at a carnival merely good for cheap thrills.

Now I admit, I jumped once or twice, but everything was easily forgettable. I had no trouble falling asleep at 3 AM and I did not worry about demons peeking in through my bedroom window or ghosts hovering over my head. 

Also, as horror movies go, there's a plot twist at -you guessed it- the end which was very predictable and quite frankly made me scream "Oh gawd, please let there not be an Insidious 2".

Blegh,

A Birthday Greeting To The (Sort Of) Bane Of My Existence

It was my brother's birthday yesterday. He turned fourteen. Yay! To celebrate, we went out and had a delicious dinner with some relatives (since our parents are on the other side of the world right now), stuffed our faces with mango cake, went berserk playing the coin pusher game at the arcade (I swear it's so addictive, although you might soon find yourself out of change), and finally we went and watched X-Men First Class, which I'm feeling too lazy to do a review for. So instead, here's a picture of me and my brother as young not-so-innocent ones:

Pictured: creepy, slumped over doll with dead eyes, myself, my brother and a styrofoam cutout of Santa Claus, and it wasn't even Christmas or Halloween. 

Now, in this picture, I was squeezing the air out of him, but I cleverly disguised it to look like I was giving him a hug. Evil? Yes, indeed. If you're reading this, you little poop, I have this to say: I love you. You're my brother no matter what, and I will always be your sister. So deal with it! Also, happy birthday! :D

Yay,

Super 8 Is Pretty Great (Hey, That Rhymed!)

Yesterday was a crazy day. My brother and I had to go on all these errands before finally sitting down for lunch and deciding to go and watch a movie. We decided on Super 8 since my brother is sort of a fan of J.J. Abrams' work and Spielberg co-produced it, so I said we'll give it a try.

I have to say that the film was pretty great. It was like E.T. but with more blood. It had a pretty good mix of romance, action and humor in it. I don't really know much about J.J.A. but I'm guessing he liked Spielberg a lot since Super 8 had a lot of Spielberg elements thrown into it.

So the film is basically about a couple of kids shooting a zombie movie, but when they witness a train crash and strange thing start happening in town with items and people disappearing, dogs running away and the military people everywhere, the kids find themselves in the middle of it all. Oh, and there's an alien. The actors did a pretty good job. The characters they played were likable and funny, also very believable. The kids really were the stars and I also liked the guy in the film developing shop who was a pothead and liked one of the kids' sister. The action scenes, especially the train crash, were pretty awesome. For the train crash scene, there were huge explosions, loud noises, and crates and train parts flying everywhere for ten minutes. People who love explosions and blowing stuff up would particularly love this pants-jizzing moment. However, it made me wonder how a single pick-up truck could cause a train derailment so severe. It was also a bit unrealistic when the guy who drove the pick-up truck into the middle of the tracks and caused the crash was still alive after everything and seemed to have just a couple of scratches on his head.

"My body should be like completely obliterated right now, but whatever."

There were a couple of other minor moments that would leave you wondering if someone would really do that in real life. There were also some other things that people did that didn't really make much sense, but these were forgivable. There were subplots, and I think they were developed pretty well throughout the film. I also liked how the monster wasn't shown right away, and the viewer is left to his or her imagination before the big reveal later into the film. The alien attacks were quite scary and were definitely intense. The twist in the film will be apparent before the ending. About the ending, I didn't quite like it. Personally, I felt it was too rushed and tried too hard to be a happy, feel-good one. It was also rather cliché. However, if you try really hard, you might kind of like it. 

In the end, I left the theater feeling satisfied. I recommend you stay after the end credits (it will be worth it) and please prepare yourself for an almost unhealthy amount of lens flares all throughout the film. Haha.

Whiirrr,

A Little Airplane Stuff Rant and Bonus Baby Po

Hello guys. I've been back since yesterday but then I decided to spend all of yesterday sleeping off the entire afternoon, and I then woke up much later, early in the morning, my head nestled in a pool of drool the size of half my face. Attractive? I think yes.

Anyway, here's a little rant about about airplane stuff:

1) I hate the fact that when I go through a long flight, I get off the plane with my butt sore from all that sitting in the same position, my lips cracked, my hair all static-y and all over the place, my eyes all red and puffy and my skin dull and dry. Not to mention, the grumpy and sleepy feelings mixed together. To top it all off, the flight attendants who were with you all throughout the flight (unless they have spontaneous skydiving sessions in between destinations) are all smiling and cheerful, the women's make-up all set in place and not smudged at all, their hair all nice and tidy and not a single wrinkle in their uniforms. I've always wondered how they happen to manage that. I'm thinking they're robots.

"What the hey?! Were we even on the same 16 hour flight together?"

2) Based on my travels on a couple of airlines so far, I have this to say: I have never encountered airplane food that is yummy, let alone edible. Well, except for the peanuts; those are okay. I do not know why, but the mere smell of it makes me want to gag. I especially hate the food with sauces, which range in color from brown to a bright orange with either goopy or runny textures. Blegh. I researched why airplane food is so disgusting and came up with a couple of answers. This is interesting and this is just gross.

"Oh gawd! I swear I can smell it through the photo!" *gags*

via

Maybe the guy who brought in McDonald's food in big brown McDonald's paper bags, slurping on up-sized McDonald's soda on my last flight had the right idea, after all.

3) To add insult to injury, the clouds outside the airplane window look like big chunks of cotton candy just beckoning you to go out and have a bite. I especially love how they turn a glorious pinkish color as the sun starts to rise, making me want them even more. I can't even count how many times I've caught myself looking longingly out the window wondering what clouds would taste like. (Also all you science nerds, I can do without your explanation of clouds being made up of water or whatever, thank you very much.)

Hey, you're running in the wrong direction, girl. Always remember, charge into the cotton candy storm, not run away from it.

4) Actually, this next thing is all about people. I hate people who deliberately yak into their phones as we are about to take off, despite repeated warnings by the the cabin crew (One time there was this woman who acted as if the phone was off and as if she didn't know what she was being warned about but as soon as the stewardess got out of hearing distance, she began talking into her phone again. ugh.), I hate it when people unfasten their seat belt and start rummaging around in the overhead bin shortly after landing even though the fasten seatbelt sign is still on and the plane is still moving, I hate it when people behind you repeatedly kick your seat (I mean, we all paid the same amount here, so if you wanted extra legroom, perhaps you should've shelled out a bit more ka-ching ka-ching), I hate it when the person sitting next to me pokes my side with his/her elbow or invades my space and ends up stepping on my foot or I end up stepping on his/her foot and he/she has the gall to be a bit annoyed at me, I hate babies and kids who scream and cry for seemingly hours on end, with their parents nestled comfortably in their seat, with either headphones or earplugs on, completely ignoring their hellspawn. (Come on, if you can't control your kid, you should've left him/her at home. Not that it would be a good idea, but it's a seemingly better one if you're going to just let your kids kick up a storm in the confined area of a plane, disturbing other passengers and not do anything about it), etc. etc.

Also, this.

And with that, I can conclude this little blog post. Oh and I also just watched Kung Fu Panda 2 with some college friends and it was awesome, so here's a GIF of baby Po thrown in for all of you! 

Uwwaaaah! Cuteness overload! 

Giggles, 

I'm Coming Home (With A Little Extra Something...Or Someone)

In less that forty eight hours, I will be boarding another plane bound for my home country. Which means it's back to college for me, no more parents, no more mom's cooking (which is sort of a good thing since I always have to ask what is on my plate at dinnertime), no more bunk bed, no more bumming around, etc. Also, I have my brother tagging along with me since he'll be continuing his studies at a new high school close to my university. This is bad news since a little brother will evidently cramp my style. Ha, I'm kidding (I think). But having an annoying kid brother who everyone believes can do no wrong and is a total angel (but in reality, is someone I'm convinced was sent here to torture me) hovering around you all the time can get pretty...ugh.

I remember I was four years old when he was born and I hated that I was no longer the apple of everyone's eye. The moment I laid my eyes on my baby brother and everyone crowding around him remarking on how cute he was, I knew this meant war.

I swear I looked exactly like this whenever I got close to my brother. 

Sucks that I can't find a picture.

And so began a sibling rivalry that continues even to this day. We have our nice quiet moments, sure, but then I forget about them each time we're engaged in one of our petty battles. 

Anyway, I'm still a bit excited since I'm going to be seeing my friends again. I've realized that I've awfully missed them over the summer break. However, the late night (and early morning) cramming, text book reading, intense studying, etc., I can certainly do without.

Also, in honor of my last airport mission as an unaccompanied minor since I'm turning *shudders* eighteen soon, here's a little blast from the past: Click for old (yet awesome) post about the weirdness I take part in as I travel.

Toodles,

#3 The Pizza Slice With The Most Toppings (L)

Today is the first of June. That means school (well, for me) will be starting soon and I've got the back-to-school-blues. I'm going to be a junior in college and that's a big thing. All this and I'm only 17. Even now I still think that everything's moving too fast and I don't really have much time to stop and smell the flowers. Oh well, enough depressing reality checks, time for *drum roll* another random part of life that I love!

Whenever we get pizza, I immediately scan the whole pie for the slice that's overflowing with pepperonis, green peppers, olives, mushrooms, beef, and cheese. Basically the slice with the most toppings, because we all know that's the best slice evaaaarr!

I have to do all this before my brother gets his hands on the pizza.

Target acquired!

Of course sometimes, I do give in to my brother. After all, I do love the big lug, even though he annoys the heck out of me. Then we can all hold hands and stuff our faces with pizza; lots and lots of pizza. But then again, bonus points if you get the pizza slice with the most toppings without even trying!

That calls for a pizza party!

Chomp,