'Sup y'all. I just want to make a really quick update.
A really quick one.
I finished my plastic bag purse (YAY) and I'm in the middle of making a plastic bag petticoat.
Done.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
my 20th...post
Yoyo, sup y'all. I got a lot of media coverage yesterday! The Free Press came to the club table to ask questions about what we were doing for America Recycle Day. Some news guy also interviewed me but I don't remember which news station he was from. I stuttered a bit and trailed off on some other point but I ended the interview pretty well...I hope.
I was collecting plastic bags for the various projects I'm doing, handing out pamphlets for composting 101 and getting signatures for a pledge to donate plastic bags to me at a different time. It was a bit slow but the other envi group helped a lot. We had lots of fun and I got to catch up with my plarn crocheting. I made a hat (it looks pretty ridiculous according to Jeff) but I thought it was a successful mistake (I was trying to make a basket). I'm also in the process of making a purse but it's taking forever. No wonder people sell their work online for like...a bazillion dollars. I need to post these pictures up at one point.
Mary and I also made a few books on Sunday but I had to leave early due to a ...headache *cough*. I finished them at home. I think Mary's club ended up selling 2 books! One was from one of the tablers and the other was bought by the interviewer from the school's newspaper. I'm gonna be one of the first to pick that up :). That's all for now~
I was collecting plastic bags for the various projects I'm doing, handing out pamphlets for composting 101 and getting signatures for a pledge to donate plastic bags to me at a different time. It was a bit slow but the other envi group helped a lot. We had lots of fun and I got to catch up with my plarn crocheting. I made a hat (it looks pretty ridiculous according to Jeff) but I thought it was a successful mistake (I was trying to make a basket). I'm also in the process of making a purse but it's taking forever. No wonder people sell their work online for like...a bazillion dollars. I need to post these pictures up at one point.
Mary and I also made a few books on Sunday but I had to leave early due to a ...headache *cough*. I finished them at home. I think Mary's club ended up selling 2 books! One was from one of the tablers and the other was bought by the interviewer from the school's newspaper. I'm gonna be one of the first to pick that up :). That's all for now~
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
the yearn to yarn
So I, once again, am procrastinating -_-…and escaping to the world of blogging. I just completely BOMBED my organic chemistry test (like NUKED that shit into pieces, yo) and cried a bit in the inside. I realize that a lot of people coop themselves up in the library to study and I’m just doing NOTHING. I probably have to resort that eventually. Eventually.
I think I’ve mentioned before that I have been bookbinding. Yes, I’ve been making books~ There are just so many pieces of paper abandoned next to printers that are usually printed on just one side. How wasteful! So I’ve taken the liberty of swiping them off the tables and using them for something useful. It’s coming out wonderful but since I’m working with a sewing awl and no needle (forgot my tatting needle at home ;_;) it’s very hard to get this right.
I’m so tired. I haven’t cooked anything cool lately because I’ve been spending so much money on random incoherent ingredients (think sustenance rather than gourmet) that I can’t buy anything to make a specific dish. Also, I haven’t bought meat at all except from the farmer’s market which is quite costly. We had angel hair spaghetti with tomato sauce and meatballs. I made the meatballs using a bit of breadcrumbs, an egg, s&p, garlic powder and love. Simple was the way to go and it turned out so good! I browned them in a pan first then dunked them in the sauce to simmer for a while. The juices stayed in. It was so greasy that I had some problems in the bathroom the next day but it’s all good. I haven’t been craving meat lately so this is good. I lost some fat but not at the places I want to lose them xD. I miss Korean food so much.
Although this was strictly supposed to be a F.A.C.T. blog, I haven’t been writing on any of the 4. College is a busy, busy time of a person’s life and it’s hard incorporating any of those especially when that person is poor >_>. I already have loans stacking up, I don’t have a job, I’m afraid I’ll graduate without getting one…*breath*...so I end up ranting about my life here.
Since I’m great with transitioning, I think I’ll just continue. Yeah, so I bought a lot of cool yarn before but I haven’t touched them and I also don’t really know what I want to make. I’ve been meaning to make a sweater dress for some time but…yeah, we’ll see.
Potential ideas bring fruitful results only if you water them every day. I’ve been neglecting them.
I think I’ve mentioned before that I have been bookbinding. Yes, I’ve been making books~ There are just so many pieces of paper abandoned next to printers that are usually printed on just one side. How wasteful! So I’ve taken the liberty of swiping them off the tables and using them for something useful. It’s coming out wonderful but since I’m working with a sewing awl and no needle (forgot my tatting needle at home ;_;) it’s very hard to get this right.
I’m so tired. I haven’t cooked anything cool lately because I’ve been spending so much money on random incoherent ingredients (think sustenance rather than gourmet) that I can’t buy anything to make a specific dish. Also, I haven’t bought meat at all except from the farmer’s market which is quite costly. We had angel hair spaghetti with tomato sauce and meatballs. I made the meatballs using a bit of breadcrumbs, an egg, s&p, garlic powder and love. Simple was the way to go and it turned out so good! I browned them in a pan first then dunked them in the sauce to simmer for a while. The juices stayed in. It was so greasy that I had some problems in the bathroom the next day but it’s all good. I haven’t been craving meat lately so this is good. I lost some fat but not at the places I want to lose them xD. I miss Korean food so much.
Although this was strictly supposed to be a F.A.C.T. blog, I haven’t been writing on any of the 4. College is a busy, busy time of a person’s life and it’s hard incorporating any of those especially when that person is poor >_>. I already have loans stacking up, I don’t have a job, I’m afraid I’ll graduate without getting one…*breath*...so I end up ranting about my life here.
Since I’m great with transitioning, I think I’ll just continue. Yeah, so I bought a lot of cool yarn before but I haven’t touched them and I also don’t really know what I want to make. I’ve been meaning to make a sweater dress for some time but…yeah, we’ll see.
Potential ideas bring fruitful results only if you water them every day. I’ve been neglecting them.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Plarn and Scrarn, Plus a Reused Notebook
So, I'm procrastinating :D (now surprisingly) because too much hydrology makes me blheerrgh. I got back my organic chem test back and wow, I did better than I thought I did but I still did pretty bad (I barely reached the average) so I will start hitting those books.
I got a lot of scrap yarn from Maggie which I greatly appreciate. So far I made a dishcloth which keeps curling on the sides so I might unravel it, and a couple of coasters. I was looking into 'crazy yarn' which is a bunch of scrap yarn tied together and what people made with it. Someone crocheted a really cool looking doormat which I'm tempted to try out but I'm pretty sure I don't have enough yarn. I might use the yarn for weaving a mat instead. What will I weave with you ask?
PLARN! I've been complaining about the growing container of plastic bags that hides out in the kitchen shelf and stuffed our canvas bags with them so we reuse them when we go shopping. Instead, I've decided to use the bags for something...and the perfect project in mind is DOORMATS! We need two; one for the exit near my room (which sucks because stuff gets everywhere and eventually into my room) and one in the entrance, since it's probably going to snow soon and wiping our feet on something might keep the house clean. This will solve two problems because I can finally get rid of both the scrarn and and plarn ;D. I'll tell you how it goes...That reminds me, I should probably take a picture of the coasters before I unravel them <3. All that time spent on them will go to waste if I don't even get a souvenir from them.
So, I had a meeting with Jim Wolf to talk about the campaign for reducing paper consumption on SUNY Binghamton's campus. While I was researching potential prizes for this campaign, I came across this really great Instructable on how to make notebooks using cardboard, single sided printed office paper and twine using the Japanese bookbinding technique. This is a great way of spreading awareness of the the amount of paper we waste on campus and make something neat out of it. I'm going to Michael's with Mary on Friday and hopefully we can get this project going. I already scavenged around the Bartle library to find some printed paper that can be used. Mary suggested that I erase any names that are on the paper so that they won't come get us if we do hand them out. I'm really excited!
Alas, all my extracurricular activities are weighing me down and my academic side is taking the toll. I should study more >_____>...hoho. Well, since I'm in the Science Library, I think I'm gonna find some more paper for the project ;D... Tootaloo~
I got a lot of scrap yarn from Maggie which I greatly appreciate. So far I made a dishcloth which keeps curling on the sides so I might unravel it, and a couple of coasters. I was looking into 'crazy yarn' which is a bunch of scrap yarn tied together and what people made with it. Someone crocheted a really cool looking doormat which I'm tempted to try out but I'm pretty sure I don't have enough yarn. I might use the yarn for weaving a mat instead. What will I weave with you ask?
PLARN! I've been complaining about the growing container of plastic bags that hides out in the kitchen shelf and stuffed our canvas bags with them so we reuse them when we go shopping. Instead, I've decided to use the bags for something...and the perfect project in mind is DOORMATS! We need two; one for the exit near my room (which sucks because stuff gets everywhere and eventually into my room) and one in the entrance, since it's probably going to snow soon and wiping our feet on something might keep the house clean. This will solve two problems because I can finally get rid of both the scrarn and and plarn ;D. I'll tell you how it goes...That reminds me, I should probably take a picture of the coasters before I unravel them <3. All that time spent on them will go to waste if I don't even get a souvenir from them.
So, I had a meeting with Jim Wolf to talk about the campaign for reducing paper consumption on SUNY Binghamton's campus. While I was researching potential prizes for this campaign, I came across this really great Instructable on how to make notebooks using cardboard, single sided printed office paper and twine using the Japanese bookbinding technique. This is a great way of spreading awareness of the the amount of paper we waste on campus and make something neat out of it. I'm going to Michael's with Mary on Friday and hopefully we can get this project going. I already scavenged around the Bartle library to find some printed paper that can be used. Mary suggested that I erase any names that are on the paper so that they won't come get us if we do hand them out. I'm really excited!
Alas, all my extracurricular activities are weighing me down and my academic side is taking the toll. I should study more >_____>...hoho. Well, since I'm in the Science Library, I think I'm gonna find some more paper for the project ;D... Tootaloo~
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Random Update
So, I went to Walmart yesterday to pick up 2 items I've ordered. One was a red silicone bundt cake pan (YAY! I can make angel cake now~~) and the other was a Takumi circular needle (size 11, 24" which is really short >_>). I've read things about how people shouldn't try knitting small things on long circular needles because of its tendency to stretch out the work so I decided to buy a short one. I didn't realize that it was that short though O_o...
I gave away one of my bottle socks to Grace because her bottle was getting banged up. She kept dropping it one the floor. I do too, but my sock has prolonged the bottle's life *rubs bottle.* This is the first time that I didn't dump all my pictures from the camera after a day's worth of pictures. This is probably for the best so that I don't have a gazillion folders in my computer that has like...10 pictures in it. I should find some time to update them up here.
I've also been meaning to update a picture of my room up at Binghamton. I decorated it with the lowest budget possible (yay xD) and with the least amount of items. My parents and brother were complaining that I was bringing way too much stuff up but I still need things from home -_-...And I technically do have room for them (e.g. incense holder, fragrance oil, ...and other things : D) but I thought it would have been best to keep them home.
Speaking of fragrances, I really like the smell of incense. I think it's due to memories of home (when we are doing jesa O_o?) and also those hippie stores that sell really cool stuff. They smell like incense all the time and so I went to one to buy some incense. They were handmade in India and smell SO GOOD. I didn't even burn them yet and they make a part of my room smell like...forgot the name of the incense. The packaging was really pretty too~ (made from recycled paper). I'll get around to taking a picture of it.
Another random story: so I did laundry a week back (2 weeks worth of clothing) and didn't use the dryer to dry them. Why? First off, it makes them smell like dryers (which I hate) and it gets all static clingy (and I hate using those sheets because they are filled with chemicals and I never bothered throwing a piece of foil into the dryer...seems unsafe lol). Not only that but it's a ton of wasted energy D:. SO, I used the clothes hanger thing that was in the verge of falling off and put it in my room. That was probably a bad idea considering the room wasn't very warm or get a lot of sunlight. I also had a shit ton of clothes on it which let less surface area in the open air. So, long story short, most of my clothes smell moldy and made the room smell bad. I opened the windows to deter the smell and WTF, my room gets freezing cold within minutes. Story of my life, kids, story of my life.
Before I go, I just want to say I LOVE FARMER'S MARKETS. They have affordable and fresh fruits, veggies, PLANTS (we got a lemon verbena plant that just smells wonderful for like 2 dollars or something...maybe 4), spices (fresh and affordable), other foods (like Amish granola...the man and his daughters that were selling them dressed like Amish people O_O but the granola was a bit pricey) and friendly people. It's just nice to know where the food is coming from.
I gave away one of my bottle socks to Grace because her bottle was getting banged up. She kept dropping it one the floor. I do too, but my sock has prolonged the bottle's life *rubs bottle.* This is the first time that I didn't dump all my pictures from the camera after a day's worth of pictures. This is probably for the best so that I don't have a gazillion folders in my computer that has like...10 pictures in it. I should find some time to update them up here.
I've also been meaning to update a picture of my room up at Binghamton. I decorated it with the lowest budget possible (yay xD) and with the least amount of items. My parents and brother were complaining that I was bringing way too much stuff up but I still need things from home -_-...And I technically do have room for them (e.g. incense holder, fragrance oil, ...and other things : D) but I thought it would have been best to keep them home.
Speaking of fragrances, I really like the smell of incense. I think it's due to memories of home (when we are doing jesa O_o?) and also those hippie stores that sell really cool stuff. They smell like incense all the time and so I went to one to buy some incense. They were handmade in India and smell SO GOOD. I didn't even burn them yet and they make a part of my room smell like...forgot the name of the incense. The packaging was really pretty too~ (made from recycled paper). I'll get around to taking a picture of it.
Another random story: so I did laundry a week back (2 weeks worth of clothing) and didn't use the dryer to dry them. Why? First off, it makes them smell like dryers (which I hate) and it gets all static clingy (and I hate using those sheets because they are filled with chemicals and I never bothered throwing a piece of foil into the dryer...seems unsafe lol). Not only that but it's a ton of wasted energy D:. SO, I used the clothes hanger thing that was in the verge of falling off and put it in my room. That was probably a bad idea considering the room wasn't very warm or get a lot of sunlight. I also had a shit ton of clothes on it which let less surface area in the open air. So, long story short, most of my clothes smell moldy and made the room smell bad. I opened the windows to deter the smell and WTF, my room gets freezing cold within minutes. Story of my life, kids, story of my life.
Before I go, I just want to say I LOVE FARMER'S MARKETS. They have affordable and fresh fruits, veggies, PLANTS (we got a lemon verbena plant that just smells wonderful for like 2 dollars or something...maybe 4), spices (fresh and affordable), other foods (like Amish granola...the man and his daughters that were selling them dressed like Amish people O_O but the granola was a bit pricey) and friendly people. It's just nice to know where the food is coming from.
Monday, May 11, 2009
whutwhut --
Okay, so I have one more final then I'm done. DONE. This means I can continue updating normally again. I finished my ENVI 201 and CHEM 108 final......and all I've got to say about them is that I'm glad they are over with. I'm not really looking forward to next semester either:
Geochemistry, Organic Chemistry, Hydrology and Horror Fiction (woots!). >_> SO MUCH SCIENCE AND S:DFJSEOJ.
On an unrelated note, I want to change the layout to something more personal. Although I really like the colors and the look of an antique journal, it doesn't really suit the happy nature of what Rizu and I are writing about. So, look forward to a future layout~
I'm updating this from someone else's laptop so...again no pictures with this post, SORRY! I'll do it as soon as I get back home, hoho. Well, I think I should go back to what I was writing about...
Let's see...okay, it's been so long since I've posted that I forgot where I was continue from. I think I left off saying something about...
And that's where I ended 4 months ago. It is now Sept. 7. My classes are as listed above (I got into all of them). I won't be changing the layout anytime soon but I must update on my works. I have been doing commissions for people but I haven't taken a picture of one of them. It was a mug cozy made for my boss. I got the idea from a mug cozy from Etsy and I improvised to fit it to my needs. I might make one to update it here. Since I'm in the Info Commons, I can't update my pictures up here but I will do so sometime in the future.
So, yesterday I ordered a pair of circular needles and it should be available for pickup next week (I really can't wait). I've been checking it almost twice a day but I forget to tell myself that they probably don't work on weekends and holidays. I might make a poncho or something with them O_o....
Besides knitting and crocheting, I've been doing a lot of cooking lately. I bought The Joy of Cooking recently and only had time to leaf through it but I've been getting a lot of ideas. I made a lot of lunch boxes lately, some Asian food, some not. Today I made myself a peanut butter and banana sandwich with some carrots and a pesto/cream cheese dip. It wasn't bad but I've been trying to make my stomach not so hungry all the time =___= and it's very hard to do so. I guess I'll update when I get those needles *squee.* I really have to learn how to wait for things and not think about them constantly.
Geochemistry, Organic Chemistry, Hydrology and Horror Fiction (woots!). >_> SO MUCH SCIENCE AND S:DFJSEOJ.
On an unrelated note, I want to change the layout to something more personal. Although I really like the colors and the look of an antique journal, it doesn't really suit the happy nature of what Rizu and I are writing about. So, look forward to a future layout~
I'm updating this from someone else's laptop so...again no pictures with this post, SORRY! I'll do it as soon as I get back home, hoho. Well, I think I should go back to what I was writing about...
Let's see...okay, it's been so long since I've posted that I forgot where I was continue from. I think I left off saying something about...
And that's where I ended 4 months ago. It is now Sept. 7. My classes are as listed above (I got into all of them). I won't be changing the layout anytime soon but I must update on my works. I have been doing commissions for people but I haven't taken a picture of one of them. It was a mug cozy made for my boss. I got the idea from a mug cozy from Etsy and I improvised to fit it to my needs. I might make one to update it here. Since I'm in the Info Commons, I can't update my pictures up here but I will do so sometime in the future.
So, yesterday I ordered a pair of circular needles and it should be available for pickup next week (I really can't wait). I've been checking it almost twice a day but I forget to tell myself that they probably don't work on weekends and holidays. I might make a poncho or something with them O_o....
Besides knitting and crocheting, I've been doing a lot of cooking lately. I bought The Joy of Cooking recently and only had time to leaf through it but I've been getting a lot of ideas. I made a lot of lunch boxes lately, some Asian food, some not. Today I made myself a peanut butter and banana sandwich with some carrots and a pesto/cream cheese dip. It wasn't bad but I've been trying to make my stomach not so hungry all the time =___= and it's very hard to do so. I guess I'll update when I get those needles *squee.* I really have to learn how to wait for things and not think about them constantly.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Stressed 'bout Stitchin'
Hello everyone, a weary Bun here. I've got a chemistry test tomorrow and where else would I be doing but procrastinating on my A.C.T. blog? I've been crocheting a lot more often now because for me, it just seems a lot faster than knitting. I'm in the PODS right now, trying to use up the hour until I have to go to my next club meeting. So far... I've been crocheting more cozies (one has a scenic picture!) and I'm planning to crochet Super Mario and Goomba cozies. Also, I'll be folding some newspaper seed starter pots with the help of the links that are here and here. I'm gonna be growing green pea and basil transplants. I've got two people helping me grow some and I believe we might get about maybe...18 between three of us. I'm gonna sell raffle tickets (maybe 25 cents each) and give them away. [Update: apparently, selling raffle tickets is considered gambling which is not allowed (except for the CIW Casino-in-the-Woods which occurs every year) so I will just ask for donations]. I'm reallly excited about Earth Day if you couldn't tell and I probably already said this in the last post but whatevs. I've got so many projects going on...and this is why I'm also stressed out. I can't seem to manage my academic work and my extracurricular work time evenly. As I'm typing this, I have to run back after my club meeting to make two more batches of soap. *sigh* I hope I don't end up having leftover items ;_;...I need to get refunded for all this, lol.
~~
UPDATE:
ARGG, apparently because of this stupid blog thing, whenever I use the "<" symbol a.k.a whenever I draw out hearts, it screws up my html of the post, therefore deleting a chunk of my post. Well, I'm gonna try to write what I wrote before... Well the part that got deleted was the part about the stuff I'll be making for Earth Day. I'm going to be tabling for my main club and sell a bunch of things to help raise funds for the club. So far I've got: hemp jewelry (bracelets, necklaces, anklets and maybe even rings), cozies for paper coffee cups and aluminum/stainless-steel bottles which can also be used as armbands, fingerless gloves, tatting necklaces, giving away edible plants (in a 2-liter plastic bottle drip irrigation system), possibly selling T-shirts and I think that's about it. I want to crochet/knit other things but I don't know what else a college student would want. I think I have enough stuff already but ...meh. I don't know how popular those cozies would be. If you guys have any ideas, you can share with me ;D. Although this list sounds like it isn't much, I'm going to make multiples. Also, I want my knitting projects somehow relating to reducing our waste (example: the cozies will replace the paper cozies that they give out for coffee and promote the use of reusable bottles). Sigh, I think I'm thinking too much into this but I want this Earth Day to be special! I also have to be neater with my projects because if people are going to buy my stuff, it should be a good quality...meaning I have to spend more time on these things-_-. Ahh, so time-consuming~ *tear* Another note, I might be going to Schenectady to rock climb. No details on this yet since I'm still on the waiting list *booo* so if I go, I should update on that. OH! Also I went caving a few weeks ago. It was AMAZING! It was almost like hiking underground. It's pitch dark and wet in there. There were a lot of sexual innuendos going on the hike ...for obvious reasons. When we came out, we were filthy. I still have some clay I got from the cave. I'll update on this and put up some pictures later. OMFG I still haven't put up pictures for the other post...>_>.
~~
So the caving trip was AWESOME D:. We drove a bit, probably about 2.5 hours up near Albany to something caves. There were about 12 of us, I believe. We had to wear water-proof gear, helmets (I didn't realize how important these were until I went in) and head lamps (equally as important), flashlights (two because we needed a total of 3 light sources) and other things. Backpacks are not preferred because of the tight spaces in the caves. The beginning was probably the scariest part because it was basically just a hole in the ground that we had to climb down into. It wasn't dark because we all had our headlamps on. It was very wet in there (I'm so glad I had my boots) and we had to step into streams and such to get around. The spacing got so narrow sometimes that we had to crawl on our arms and legs which was very uncomfortable. Later, we saw a baby bat hanging from a small hole. Unfortunately it wasn't moving so we assumed it died from the white-nose fungus that's been killing MANY bats in various caves. You readers should check it out; it's a very serious epidemic. After we trekked the cave for about 5 hours, we went to a nearby diner where most cavers go to after their trip. The waitresses were SUPER nice and asked questions about our experience. We happily chatted with them for a while and had great food. I got chilli and jalepeno cornbread. Everyone else got salads, pasta, and Irish stew (it was around St. Paddy's around that time). The guy next to me, Eric I believe, got a lot of desserts including Hot Cross Buns! WHOA, I've only heard of this in elementary school where we were forced to play this tune on the recorder. I talked about how ridiculous the lyrics were since the song goes, "One for a penny, two for a penny" because um, why would someone choose to get one if they can get two? Maybe the lyrics were different... Anyhow, the buns were a bit bitter due to their use of beer. I think they overloaded the buns with the beer because I could actually taste it when it should have been there to give depth to the flavor.
So that was a brief summary of that fantabulous trip. I LOVE OUTDOORS CLUB!
Signin' off,
teh buns
P.S. Remind me to write better organized posts and stop using internet hearts to express my love for something.
P.P.S. If you guys don't already know, EARTH HOUR IS ON SATURDAY! Please participate, it's going to be fabulous. The more people who participate, the more energy we can save. It's such a great event and it's super easy to take part. All you have to do is turn off your electronic appliances, lights and all from 8:30pm to 9:3opm. Let the Earth rest for an hour. Be a part of a great experience that's going to happen worldwide~ Thanks!
~~
UPDATE:
ARGG, apparently because of this stupid blog thing, whenever I use the "<" symbol a.k.a whenever I draw out hearts, it screws up my html of the post, therefore deleting a chunk of my post. Well, I'm gonna try to write what I wrote before... Well the part that got deleted was the part about the stuff I'll be making for Earth Day. I'm going to be tabling for my main club and sell a bunch of things to help raise funds for the club. So far I've got: hemp jewelry (bracelets, necklaces, anklets and maybe even rings), cozies for paper coffee cups and aluminum/stainless-steel bottles which can also be used as armbands, fingerless gloves, tatting necklaces, giving away edible plants (in a 2-liter plastic bottle drip irrigation system), possibly selling T-shirts and I think that's about it. I want to crochet/knit other things but I don't know what else a college student would want. I think I have enough stuff already but ...meh. I don't know how popular those cozies would be. If you guys have any ideas, you can share with me ;D. Although this list sounds like it isn't much, I'm going to make multiples. Also, I want my knitting projects somehow relating to reducing our waste (example: the cozies will replace the paper cozies that they give out for coffee and promote the use of reusable bottles). Sigh, I think I'm thinking too much into this but I want this Earth Day to be special! I also have to be neater with my projects because if people are going to buy my stuff, it should be a good quality...meaning I have to spend more time on these things-_-. Ahh, so time-consuming~ *tear* Another note, I might be going to Schenectady to rock climb. No details on this yet since I'm still on the waiting list *booo* so if I go, I should update on that. OH! Also I went caving a few weeks ago. It was AMAZING! It was almost like hiking underground. It's pitch dark and wet in there. There were a lot of sexual innuendos going on the hike ...for obvious reasons. When we came out, we were filthy. I still have some clay I got from the cave. I'll update on this and put up some pictures later. OMFG I still haven't put up pictures for the other post...>_>.
~~
So the caving trip was AWESOME D:. We drove a bit, probably about 2.5 hours up near Albany to something caves. There were about 12 of us, I believe. We had to wear water-proof gear, helmets (I didn't realize how important these were until I went in) and head lamps (equally as important), flashlights (two because we needed a total of 3 light sources) and other things. Backpacks are not preferred because of the tight spaces in the caves. The beginning was probably the scariest part because it was basically just a hole in the ground that we had to climb down into. It wasn't dark because we all had our headlamps on. It was very wet in there (I'm so glad I had my boots) and we had to step into streams and such to get around. The spacing got so narrow sometimes that we had to crawl on our arms and legs which was very uncomfortable. Later, we saw a baby bat hanging from a small hole. Unfortunately it wasn't moving so we assumed it died from the white-nose fungus that's been killing MANY bats in various caves. You readers should check it out; it's a very serious epidemic. After we trekked the cave for about 5 hours, we went to a nearby diner where most cavers go to after their trip. The waitresses were SUPER nice and asked questions about our experience. We happily chatted with them for a while and had great food. I got chilli and jalepeno cornbread. Everyone else got salads, pasta, and Irish stew (it was around St. Paddy's around that time). The guy next to me, Eric I believe, got a lot of desserts including Hot Cross Buns! WHOA, I've only heard of this in elementary school where we were forced to play this tune on the recorder. I talked about how ridiculous the lyrics were since the song goes, "One for a penny, two for a penny" because um, why would someone choose to get one if they can get two? Maybe the lyrics were different... Anyhow, the buns were a bit bitter due to their use of beer. I think they overloaded the buns with the beer because I could actually taste it when it should have been there to give depth to the flavor.
So that was a brief summary of that fantabulous trip. I LOVE OUTDOORS CLUB!
Signin' off,
teh buns
P.S. Remind me to write better organized posts and stop using internet hearts to express my love for something.
P.P.S. If you guys don't already know, EARTH HOUR IS ON SATURDAY! Please participate, it's going to be fabulous. The more people who participate, the more energy we can save. It's such a great event and it's super easy to take part. All you have to do is turn off your electronic appliances, lights and all from 8:30pm to 9:3opm. Let the Earth rest for an hour. Be a part of a great experience that's going to happen worldwide~ Thanks!
Monday, March 2, 2009
Recent Projects
Hello! Sorry for being inactive for so long. I've been busy with activities/schoolwork that's been occupying most of my precious time. I've made a few things in the past few weeks that I want to post up here.
When I was watching the Oscars with my friends in their dorm room, I discovered a friendship bracelet in the making on one of their desks. It triggered a few flashbacks from my past when these were extremely popular. I regret not making one when I was young since they were pretty, durable and collectible. So instead, I decided to braid my own. I took some old yarn from my bag and proceeded to create a 6 string diagonal bracelet. The most important part in braiding is to keep the yarn you're wrapping around straight so that when you knot it with the working string, it comes out neat. I can do a quick tutorial later since it's super easy. After I finished the bracelet, I burned the end of the yarn to keep it from unraveling. My roommate wanted it (or seemed like she wanted it) so I gave it to her. When I came back from Power Shift yesterday night, I saw the bracelet on the floor next to my bed. -_- I'm trying not to let it get to me but it annoyed me that it was just tossed on the floor. I set it next to her bed thinking she might notice it and at least put it away in her desk or something. I woke up next morning to find it in the same place. *sigh*
This weekend, I went to Power Shift, a huge environmental conference and lobbying event. I'll write about my experience at a later post. During the car ride to Washington D.C., I wanted to make a sock for my stainless steel bottle since it was prone to denting. It also might help me hold the bottle since the bottle gets cold when I put cold water in it. The easiest way to make it is by crocheting since I can make the bottom part and the "walls" all within one project. It took longer to find out how to make it in the first place than finishing the whole sock. I didn't know how to increase the diameter of the circular base and kept making something that resembled a finger from a glove. With the help of my friend Julie, I was able to figure out how to make a cylindrical sock. I probably had to restart 5 times before being satisfied with the fit of the sock on the bottle. I got Julie hooked on crocheting after I taught her how so I have to thank her for helping me crochet part of the sock ;D.
Stay tuned for pictures!
Signin' off~
When I was watching the Oscars with my friends in their dorm room, I discovered a friendship bracelet in the making on one of their desks. It triggered a few flashbacks from my past when these were extremely popular. I regret not making one when I was young since they were pretty, durable and collectible. So instead, I decided to braid my own. I took some old yarn from my bag and proceeded to create a 6 string diagonal bracelet. The most important part in braiding is to keep the yarn you're wrapping around straight so that when you knot it with the working string, it comes out neat. I can do a quick tutorial later since it's super easy. After I finished the bracelet, I burned the end of the yarn to keep it from unraveling. My roommate wanted it (or seemed like she wanted it) so I gave it to her. When I came back from Power Shift yesterday night, I saw the bracelet on the floor next to my bed. -_- I'm trying not to let it get to me but it annoyed me that it was just tossed on the floor. I set it next to her bed thinking she might notice it and at least put it away in her desk or something. I woke up next morning to find it in the same place. *sigh*
This weekend, I went to Power Shift, a huge environmental conference and lobbying event. I'll write about my experience at a later post. During the car ride to Washington D.C., I wanted to make a sock for my stainless steel bottle since it was prone to denting. It also might help me hold the bottle since the bottle gets cold when I put cold water in it. The easiest way to make it is by crocheting since I can make the bottom part and the "walls" all within one project. It took longer to find out how to make it in the first place than finishing the whole sock. I didn't know how to increase the diameter of the circular base and kept making something that resembled a finger from a glove. With the help of my friend Julie, I was able to figure out how to make a cylindrical sock. I probably had to restart 5 times before being satisfied with the fit of the sock on the bottle. I got Julie hooked on crocheting after I taught her how so I have to thank her for helping me crochet part of the sock ;D.
Stay tuned for pictures!
Signin' off~
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Kin Jin Gin
Today I woke up around 9... and got a phone call from the tutor kid's mom that since her son went to a lock in for church, he'll be back around 11 so come around 12... so I went on the 7th train, got off bliss st, walked for 10 min and ... didn't get to tutor cause the kid was asleep. Instead, I got to eat Noguri ramen and apple and gum................
Then I came home, wanting to see my hamsters.... Since Kin was victimized, I seperated the aquarium in 2 sections with kin in one of them and jin and gin in the other..... So imagine my surprise when I took out the "home" on Gin and Jin's side and found jin brutally beat up and bloody ... And the most shocking thing was Jin and Gin were still sleeping next to each other... wtf..
The second fact didn't even go through my mind, because I took both of them and checked for where exactly the injuries were. Jin had one ripped eyelid with the same cut trailing down to his nose.. that seemed chewed and one bloody back leg. Gin... had some blood on him on his underside... but now that I think of it.. it might have been Jin.
I took them together and poured water on them. I know I wasn't supposed to but they both made me angry. Besides I couldn't take jin to a vet.....
I thought pets were supposed to be helpful to the mental health of people.. But all these three hamsters caused me were stress, rude awakenings around 3 am, and stress..
I seperated the three of them in seperate makeshift cages..
but even then, now I'm stressed to buy stuff for them..... I want to blame that kid I tutor for giving me three when i only asked for two and I want to blame him for giving me the males... and then I have to only blame myself for being such a easy pushover with no money to buy a tank bigger than 10 gallon and so on.
Now I have three stupid little burdens.... as I don't want any of them to die.. but I can't afford living spaces for all 3. Stupid animals...
Then I came home, wanting to see my hamsters.... Since Kin was victimized, I seperated the aquarium in 2 sections with kin in one of them and jin and gin in the other..... So imagine my surprise when I took out the "home" on Gin and Jin's side and found jin brutally beat up and bloody ... And the most shocking thing was Jin and Gin were still sleeping next to each other... wtf..
The second fact didn't even go through my mind, because I took both of them and checked for where exactly the injuries were. Jin had one ripped eyelid with the same cut trailing down to his nose.. that seemed chewed and one bloody back leg. Gin... had some blood on him on his underside... but now that I think of it.. it might have been Jin.
I took them together and poured water on them. I know I wasn't supposed to but they both made me angry. Besides I couldn't take jin to a vet.....
I thought pets were supposed to be helpful to the mental health of people.. But all these three hamsters caused me were stress, rude awakenings around 3 am, and stress..
I seperated the three of them in seperate makeshift cages..
but even then, now I'm stressed to buy stuff for them..... I want to blame that kid I tutor for giving me three when i only asked for two and I want to blame him for giving me the males... and then I have to only blame myself for being such a easy pushover with no money to buy a tank bigger than 10 gallon and so on.Now I have three stupid little burdens.... as I don't want any of them to die.. but I can't afford living spaces for all 3. Stupid animals...
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
The End of the Beginning
It was time for me to head to the gate so I left. A lot of Korean families, foreigners and a few people my age or older traveling alone were already on the line. We went in, this time with no trouble, and I looked for my seat. Since I had an H seat, I was expecting a window seat. When I got to row 34, I saw a girl already sitting next to the window. I quickly glanced at the top display that showed which letter corresponded to which seat. Isn’t that my seat? I asked the girl what seat letter she was sitting on. She looked surprised and said, “Uh…34F, I think.” The man sitting on 34G looked up and said, “This is
The girl next to me was my age…or looked like it. She was a happy looking teen with blondish-brunette hair, eyes dressed in blue eyeshadow, liner and mascara and wearing a T-shirt, sweatpants and flip-flops. I looked out the small window next to her and asked if it was raining. She told me it was raining earlier and it stopped just recently. We didn’t talk for a while but later on she asked me where I was from. After an exchange of a few words, I found out her name was Vicky from
We got off the plane finally and proceeded to customs. Since I was a Korean resident, I think it was easier for me to get through. I waited until Vicky got in and we headed to the bag check. After I saw a huge line of carts a bit further away from the bag check, I told Vicky to get two while I wait for our luggage. Her bags had ribbon tied on them. I thought it would be easy to spot but it seemed like every other bag had ribbons on it. Thankfully, I pulled two out that had the same kind of ribbon tied on the handle. They were both hers. We stacked our luggage on our carts (we took advantage of the free carts since in the U.S, it’s about 3 dollars to use one) and headed to the exit. I saw a fair amount of people waiting behind a metal fence. It was just like the movies! I heard from my mom that either my eldest aunt or my third aunt (from the
We got off the first stop, which took about an hour or so. We lugged out my luggage and backpack and we continued to walk. My uncle asked me if I wanted anything to eat. I still had indigestion so I didn’t feel like eating. I shook my head and continued to walk until we got to a green metal door. I almost missed it since it was hidden between a cleaners and a convenience store. The metal door creaked as my uncle and I pushed it open. A narrow concrete alleyway greeted us and we took a right towards the stairs. When we reached the top, there was a door to our right side. Since they live on the top floor we had to open another gate and walk another flight of stairs to reach the house. We finally arrived. My aunt was already there and said hi. I was exhausted and bowed. It was around 11 or 12 at night so Misun was already sleeping. Misun is my female cousin’s daughter. We talked for a bit and ended up watching a video that was recorded in 1992. This was when my family (excluding my brother who was probably still at school) my aunt and uncle and some of their friends went to see some island. It was cool…a blast from the past, literally. I recognized the place they were at because I have pictures of them back at home. It’s weird watching something that you only saw in pictures. After we finished watching it, it was already 1 so we decided to sleep. I was to go straight to Tongyung tomorrow.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
The Beginning Part 4
It’s July 15th now and I’ve been in Seoul Korea 
entertaining…I suppose. One of those movies you watch when you got nothing else to do. That’s why I watched it XD. After that, Bucket List started to play. It was a great movie! I cried in the end but I tried to hold it back. The stewardesses (in my case steward) started to hand out sandwiches and oreos for a light snack. I forgot how it tasted but as always, I scraped off the white filling of the oreos before I ate them. Later, a Dr. Seuss movie started playing. I think it was about the Whos living on a speck. I LOVED that movie! It had the goofy kind of humor I love~~ Later, the steward started his rounds to serve breakfast. I had the fried rice and 
beef…more disgusting microwavable food. I was certain that this food was going to give me indigestion or something but I ate it anyway. The guy next to me left for a really long time. I had no idea what he was doing. Maybe he was taking a dump or he found a seat in the back or maybe he was talking to the stewardesses? Earlier, I talked with the white guy that was sitting a seat away. He’s part of the Air Force and he’s on his way to Guam to work as a construction worker. I didn’t talk to him much since he was a seat away and he looked like he didn’t want to talk.
entertaining…I suppose. One of those movies you watch when you got nothing else to do. That’s why I watched it XD. After that, Bucket List started to play. It was a great movie! I cried in the end but I tried to hold it back. The stewardesses (in my case steward) started to hand out sandwiches and oreos for a light snack. I forgot how it tasted but as always, I scraped off the white filling of the oreos before I ate them. Later, a Dr. Seuss movie started playing. I think it was about the Whos living on a speck. I LOVED that movie! It had the goofy kind of humor I love~~ Later, the steward started his rounds to serve breakfast. I had the fried rice and beef…more disgusting microwavable food. I was certain that this food was going to give me indigestion or something but I ate it anyway. The guy next to me left for a really long time. I had no idea what he was doing. Maybe he was taking a dump or he found a seat in the back or maybe he was talking to the stewardesses? Earlier, I talked with the white guy that was sitting a seat away. He’s part of the Air Force and he’s on his way to 
We eventually landed and I had to hurry off to the back of my section of the plane to retrieve my bag. The compartment above me didn’t have enough room for my bag so I had to put it in the back. People started to get up from their seat so I couldn’t go back to my seat to get my other bag. One thing about airplane passengers is that they are usually friendly. When I was trying to get my backpack from the overhead compartment, the guy sitting right below offered to take it down for me. After a few minutes everyone was allowed to get off. I had about 40 minutes or so before the plane to 
The airport was a sm
all one, probably because it wasn’t a major airport. There were a lot of booths selling items such as yukatas, magazines, designer bags and jewelry. I took a few pictures of some of the sites I saw around my trip. When I first got off the plane, I went straight to the bathroom. Lo and behold, a bidet was fitted on the toilets. Like all Korean and possibly Japanese public toilets, the doors reach almost all the way to the floor. You get more privacy so it’s nice. I looked at the bidet for a while and decided to try it out. There were the standard buttons: the butt washer, the “bidet” for the ladies, music to cover up any noises, a seat warmer and possibly more buttons but I’ve forgotten them. There were buttons to 
control the temperature of the seat and the water so it was nice. I tried out the butt washer but for some reason it didn’t reach my butt but just the back of it. Perhaps I didn’t sit on the toilet right…but yeah, it sucked. I ended up with a soggy pair of pants when I came out. It wasn’t too wet but I 
was sad 
;
_;.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
The Other Beginning
I keep noticing how Hyo's reminiscing or rather reenacting her trip to Korea so I thought I'll do that too... for lack of anything else to write today-_-;;;
Unlike Hyo, my flight was in the night.....
May 15, 2008 (date of departure from New York, JFK)
My flight boards around 11:30...>_> Plenty of time to write in you.
This entire day I felt worried and already homesick ( so I stayed in bed a lot). What I packed was so little ( felt dirt poor>_>)
.... I'm glad I got to meet mom before departure. I almost couldn't.
And strangely, all the fear I felt at home disappeared.
The night is really beautiful when you ride in the car....
It's hard to explain.. A proof that I'm actually going somewhere.. Or maybe it's just this feeling finally moving and doing something. For the first time in years.. I feel so alive and happy.
.... Yeah.. all I feel is excitement and happiness>_>...
a bit bad that mom couldn't get to go but right now I'm too overflowed and powered by the giddy feeling.
.. but i'll definitely send her.. one day.. maybe
45 more min to go. lol<3>_> ... with a country accent.. (like Hyo.)
Ok. excitement dulled down. Now dangerously tipping to boredom and maybe uneaseo_o!.
Oh yeah. I hope I don't miss all the summer mailx_x from school. I don't wanna fall behind work... And piano books><.. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Scratch what I said about excitement-_- This was a very long tiring flight... I felt stuffy.... Does this mean I'm in bad shape?(health?) Oh crap>_>.. must start eating macrobiotic diet like crazy...
May 18, 2009 ( date of arrival in Korea, Incheon )
The flight ended in 13hrs and 19 min. (19 cause it was really dark and stuff... or maybe cause they can't fly over N. Korea?)
And there I said fare... I didn't get to ... but I regret that.
The person sitting next to me was a woman from Philadelphia, PE going to Korea to visit her dying mom.I lost her somewhere along the checkout point. She went through the Korean side and I went through the longer lined.. foreigner side.
The guy in the outer seat managed to sleep all throughout the ride-_-.. (cept for meals..) Strangely I kept running into him in various areas of the airport including checkpoint, baggage, etc. We arrived at Korea around 4:19 am (Korean time).
Anyway I managed to get out:) filling out al those needed stuff with no problem. and even managed to leisurely call my mom. (although 2.14 /min rate x_x!) But I guess I was desperate since I didn't know who would pick me up and how........at all.. I had an inkling it was my aunt (mom's little sister) and uncle (husband of aunt).. but they lived closer to Gimpo airport not Incheon....
*Thinking about it now... I'm a bit mad. My parents are to lax that their affection borders along the lines of not caring. Such useless beings*
(@_@ I always feel so hungry since coming here.. as I barely ate anything on the plane...)
And in the baggage claim area ( which took forever), my mother told me my 이모부 (uncle) told her to tell me to ride to Gimpo on a bus.......
I guess I was feeling too surreal to have this piece of news upset me... so I managed to find a way to a bus...but not before I went to the bathroom.. where I layed my eyes on .. a toilet which the seat revolves around with new plastic wrap ...... after every use... I was amazed.>>
So outside the airport near the bus terminal I managed to find my way to the ticket 아저씨. He was nice and even gave me a cheaper ticket that cost 5,000W ( The regular was 6,*** W but still>_>). I think it was partially due to him mistaking me for a jr high school kid.................. but oh well..
I also met a girl who was 26 years old ( but she looked like she was my age.. which believe it or not is 19)
She lives in LA but came from NY on Korean Air. She was debating whether to go to Gimpo or MoDong? (모동?). ( She was a couple days early and planned to meet up with friends and party first before going home.....)
Anyway our lovely chat was interrupted when she saw the bus headed for Modong? and ran for it giving me a quick farewell~ It was a very short meeting but it was very ... awesome.
And I rode the bus.
The air felt so fresh<3>* Or maybe it's due to all the mountain and sea surrounding Korea*
As we rod ( 5 AM) the pink (yea it was pink!) Sun began to rise.. I thought it was soooo beautiful as it reflected in the rice paddy waters.
I ended up getting off too early and landed in 김포국제공항. (Gimpo International or something. It was a seperate builing from the 국네공항.National Domestic whatever.. The main building.
And it was connected to Sky Mall. None of them were open-_- ( ah.. hungry) And I wandered around awhile... and asked a guy why none of them were open. The guy said as a matter of factly.. "Cause it's morning.." I somehow expected it to be open 24/7. since... it is an airport..?=_=;;; hm
Ayway I managed to find a public phone.. It was mad empty and there was one.... Korean soldier.. on guard...>_>;;;; Anyway I managed to call 이모부. and he and 이모 came to pick me up. But they took some time.. and I spent that time straining myself to look at CNN while I felt the guard looking at me very awkwardly>>;;;..cause I think it surprised him when all of a sudden I spoke English after speaking Korean... when I looked Korean.
Overall, I think I felt nervous. Cause I felt like I was staying just out of.. er like I would be a burden to their normal life, etc....
It had been...8? years maybe when I last saw them. The car ride was so strange. I was scared but .. the atmosphere told me they .. were very lax?... I can describe it but they felt natural.
It was 6 am when we got back. The distant yet vaguely familiar apartment complex came into view and we went up to the 6th floor.. and.. opened the door. I got nervous again. Thinking of my cousins.. I shared a long time with the older girl when she was 2... something she'd probably have forgotten by now. And I never met the younger brother.... Opening the door, a bundle of fur... invited me in with it's jumping and ...wagging it's tail. Dogs.. really are the best animals for making anyone feel welcome..
Aunt and Uncle went back to sleep and I .. since I couldn't stayed up with the dog waiting. Jisu (older cousin, 4th grader female. English name : Sue) and Jong Jin ( 1st grader youger male. English name: Erik came out of the room.. awakening for their Saturday school..
They are so cute>_>.. but I get shy and they get shy so interactions are....
This was so much easier when I was a kid;_;....
And their dog.. is cute~_~. The whole family is a .."dog" family. Mnnn.....The whole Sat til 1:00 ish aunt and uncle slept. The kids went to school.
For an hour? maybe? I went around the neighborhood (one street up and down). One was ...felt like a dead end as there were only highway like roads for cars.. The others... all the stores were closed.
Bleh.
Then we ate lunch. ( I was hungry by then)
And at 3, we went out to get Blackie's (dog) haircut. And we went to Issan Park.. So many flowers and couples.. I hated it.
But I liked the walk. I didn't like the day. It felt like a watery dry and midsun clouds. Like jusk make up your mind to the weather.
For dinner, we ate chicken bbq. I liked it. It felt so yummy. Some were hot (even hot for a Korean) but it was so yummy.
The italics are pieces of my diary and bold is ... the missing pieces that's all been in my brain>>...
I use a lot of fragments;_; But yeah.. that was my beginning...<3............ I wanna go again=_=;
Unlike Hyo, my flight was in the night.....
May 15, 2008 (date of departure from New York, JFK)
My flight boards around 11:30...>_> Plenty of time to write in you.
This entire day I felt worried and already homesick ( so I stayed in bed a lot). What I packed was so little ( felt dirt poor>_>)
.... I'm glad I got to meet mom before departure. I almost couldn't.
And strangely, all the fear I felt at home disappeared.
The night is really beautiful when you ride in the car....It's hard to explain.. A proof that I'm actually going somewhere.. Or maybe it's just this feeling finally moving and doing something. For the first time in years.. I feel so alive and happy.
.... Yeah.. all I feel is excitement and happiness>_>...
a bit bad that mom couldn't get to go but right now I'm too overflowed and powered by the giddy feeling.
.. but i'll definitely send her.. one day.. maybe
45 more min to go. lol<3>_> ... with a country accent.. (like Hyo.)Ok. excitement dulled down. Now dangerously tipping to boredom and maybe uneaseo_o!.
Oh yeah. I hope I don't miss all the summer mailx_x from school. I don't wanna fall behind work... And piano books><.. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Scratch what I said about excitement-_- This was a very long tiring flight... I felt stuffy.... Does this mean I'm in bad shape?(health?) Oh crap>_>.. must start eating macrobiotic diet like crazy...
May 18, 2009 ( date of arrival in Korea, Incheon )
The flight ended in 13hrs and 19 min. (19 cause it was really dark and stuff... or maybe cause they can't fly over N. Korea?)
And there I said fare... I didn't get to ... but I regret that.
The person sitting next to me was a woman from Philadelphia, PE going to Korea to visit her dying mom.I lost her somewhere along the checkout point. She went through the Korean side and I went through the longer lined.. foreigner side.
The guy in the outer seat managed to sleep all throughout the ride-_-.. (cept for meals..) Strangely I kept running into him in various areas of the airport including checkpoint, baggage, etc. We arrived at Korea around 4:19 am (Korean time).
Anyway I managed to get out:) filling out al those needed stuff with no problem. and even managed to leisurely call my mom. (although 2.14 /min rate x_x!) But I guess I was desperate since I didn't know who would pick me up and how........at all.. I had an inkling it was my aunt (mom's little sister) and uncle (husband of aunt).. but they lived closer to Gimpo airport not Incheon....
*Thinking about it now... I'm a bit mad. My parents are to lax that their affection borders along the lines of not caring. Such useless beings*
(@_@ I always feel so hungry since coming here.. as I barely ate anything on the plane...)
And in the baggage claim area ( which took forever), my mother told me my 이모부 (uncle) told her to tell me to ride to Gimpo on a bus.......
I guess I was feeling too surreal to have this piece of news upset me... so I managed to find a way to a bus...but not before I went to the bathroom.. where I layed my eyes on .. a toilet which the seat revolves around with new plastic wrap ...... after every use... I was amazed.>>
So outside the airport near the bus terminal I managed to find my way to the ticket 아저씨. He was nice and even gave me a cheaper ticket that cost 5,000W ( The regular was 6,*** W but still>_>). I think it was partially due to him mistaking me for a jr high school kid.................. but oh well..I also met a girl who was 26 years old ( but she looked like she was my age.. which believe it or not is 19)
She lives in LA but came from NY on Korean Air. She was debating whether to go to Gimpo or MoDong? (모동?). ( She was a couple days early and planned to meet up with friends and party first before going home.....)
Anyway our lovely chat was interrupted when she saw the bus headed for Modong? and ran for it giving me a quick farewell~ It was a very short meeting but it was very ... awesome.
And I rode the bus.
The air felt so fresh<3>* Or maybe it's due to all the mountain and sea surrounding Korea*
As we rod ( 5 AM) the pink (yea it was pink!) Sun began to rise.. I thought it was soooo beautiful as it reflected in the rice paddy waters.
I ended up getting off too early and landed in 김포국제공항. (Gimpo International or something. It was a seperate builing from the 국네공항.National Domestic whatever.. The main building.
And it was connected to Sky Mall. None of them were open-_- ( ah.. hungry) And I wandered around awhile... and asked a guy why none of them were open. The guy said as a matter of factly.. "Cause it's morning.." I somehow expected it to be open 24/7. since... it is an airport..?=_=;;; hm
Ayway I managed to find a public phone.. It was mad empty and there was one.... Korean soldier.. on guard...>_>;;;; Anyway I managed to call 이모부. and he and 이모 came to pick me up. But they took some time.. and I spent that time straining myself to look at CNN while I felt the guard looking at me very awkwardly>>;;;..cause I think it surprised him when all of a sudden I spoke English after speaking Korean... when I looked Korean.
Overall, I think I felt nervous. Cause I felt like I was staying just out of.. er like I would be a burden to their normal life, etc....
It had been...8? years maybe when I last saw them. The car ride was so strange. I was scared but .. the atmosphere told me they .. were very lax?... I can describe it but they felt natural.
It was 6 am when we got back. The distant yet vaguely familiar apartment complex came into view and we went up to the 6th floor.. and.. opened the door. I got nervous again. Thinking of my cousins.. I shared a long time with the older girl when she was 2... something she'd probably have forgotten by now. And I never met the younger brother.... Opening the door, a bundle of fur... invited me in with it's jumping and ...wagging it's tail. Dogs.. really are the best animals for making anyone feel welcome..
Aunt and Uncle went back to sleep and I .. since I couldn't stayed up with the dog waiting. Jisu (older cousin, 4th grader female. English name : Sue) and Jong Jin ( 1st grader youger male. English name: Erik came out of the room.. awakening for their Saturday school..
They are so cute>_>.. but I get shy and they get shy so interactions are....
This was so much easier when I was a kid;_;....
And their dog.. is cute~_~. The whole family is a .."dog" family. Mnnn.....The whole Sat til 1:00 ish aunt and uncle slept. The kids went to school.
For an hour? maybe? I went around the neighborhood (one street up and down). One was ...felt like a dead end as there were only highway like roads for cars.. The others... all the stores were closed.
Bleh.
Then we ate lunch. ( I was hungry by then)
And at 3, we went out to get Blackie's (dog) haircut. And we went to Issan Park.. So many flowers and couples.. I hated it.
But I liked the walk. I didn't like the day. It felt like a watery dry and midsun clouds. Like jusk make up your mind to the weather.
For dinner, we ate chicken bbq. I liked it. It felt so yummy. Some were hot (even hot for a Korean) but it was so yummy.
The italics are pieces of my diary and bold is ... the missing pieces that's all been in my brain>>...
I use a lot of fragments;_; But yeah.. that was my beginning...<3............ I wanna go again=_=;
The Beginning Part 3
After waiting around some more and watching other people go about to their destination, I thought it was a good time to board the plane. I proceeded into Gate A4 and to the carry-on check out. I had a hard time here since I didn’t know I was supposed to take my shoes off and I had trouble putting the handle back into the sp-ed bag. Water isn’t permitted on board (I decided to bring a couple of bottles because of what I’ve read about airplane water which isn't true anymore since they serve bottled water now) so she made me throw it out. I kept walkinguntil I saw the tunnel that led to the plane. My hands started to get sweaty, something that doesn’t happen too often for me. I guess I was reall
y nervous and excited at the same time. I was seated (18A) and luckily, it was a window seat! I was sitting next to a lady who was heading to It took a while for the plane to take off (there were some other planes that haven’t taken off yet/incoming planes etc.) so we waited for a good 20 minutes or so. When we did finally lift off, it was such an odd feeling. My heart started t
o race and the world beneath me started to shrink. The view was amazing…
Because of the delay, there wasn’t much time to get to Gate 30, the gate to Narita,
I got to the gate and walked in. There was an escalator heading downstairs on the right hand side and a sign saying Couch Entrance leading to the left side. I didn’t see anyone else coming in so I got confused. Was I supposed to go downstairs? I took a left into the entrance and I asked the stewardess, “Am I on the right plane?” Well, DUH, I was but remind you, this is my first time taking an airplane by myself. My seat, 36G, was in the middle of the aisle. It was 2 rows behind the T.V. screen…meaning no window ;_;!! Next to me was an Asian guy, looked around my age and next to him was a buff looking white male who looks a bit older. I put my stuff in the overhead com
partment and tried to make myself comfortable. On my seat was a pillow, a blanket, menu and magazines. I took my seat and waited. The announcements were in English, Japanese and Chinese (Mandarin?). At one point, they made an announcement saying that the Air Force One was arriving at the airport. Since I wasn’t near a window, I missed it ;_;. I got tired so I took a nap. I woke up and they served a light snack of pretzels and a drink. I knitted for a while then got bored halfway. Stomp was playing on the big screen but I didn’t watch since I’ve already watched it before. Has anyone seen it? It’s very well made.
Later on, the crew began to serve dinner. The menu offered a beef or chicken entrée. I took the chicken. The food wasn’t bad, but wasn’t great either. It kind of tasted lik
e cheap microwavable food…which it probably was. The cookies were so good though~ It was a Pepperidge Farm cookie. I reminded myself to buy a bag when I return to
What I found interesting about our conversation is that he told me the military service hinders the studies of students. Since it’s a 2 year commitment, young men tend to forget everything they learned in school. There’s a lot of rigorous work involved (or depending on where you get placed) but in the end, there’s no time for studies. I’ve known that Koreans are very studious but now I see that it’s really serious. We talked a bit more, but I did more listening than talking, which I didn’t mind at all; it was fun. After we ate, we all had to go to the bathroom but the lines were incredibly long. Man, I can’t get tired of the airplane toilet. The suction is so interesting >_>….Anyway, it’s
Friday, February 13, 2009
Joining the Unfortunate Fish's blog
It's a really crappy time to be writing an self intro for joining this blog (12:50 am isn't a good time when you're ready to fall on your bed) but nonetheless I'm so happy to join the fish manatee loving tree hugger that is Hiyo PiyoxD.
The assignment due tomorrow for me is to do a finish drawing on tracing paper of the drawing we're going to etch unto zinc plates. Unfortunately, I dont have any pictures with me at the moment, but you can look forward to get pictures of the finishesXD.. if I'm actually able to tolerate them.
Look forward to itXD~
(This turned out to sound like an advertisement;_;)
Oh yeah some pictures since blogs without pictures are boring o_o
Freebies are always so great<3>
Got them from a Liquitex representative that came to our Material and Methods class in Parsons. Last semester we got free prismacolor stuff.. Sadly all my stuff were.. lost because of this really confusing event where our class took the whole box of stuff that was meant for 3 classes.. Here's a pic:
But being a good person, I gave all of my stuff back for a reshuffle since the other two classes didn't get anything. And in the end, I was left with only a four pen box.. (note the A... ;_; uno.) Some people were smart and didn't give them back...-_-; muuu
Anyway I haven't ever used acrylic before but I guess it's a good time to try nowXD... I'll start when the time is right>>
The assignment due tomorrow for me is to do a finish drawing on tracing paper of the drawing we're going to etch unto zinc plates. Unfortunately, I dont have any pictures with me at the moment, but you can look forward to get pictures of the finishesXD.. if I'm actually able to tolerate them.
Look forward to itXD~
(This turned out to sound like an advertisement;_;)
Oh yeah some pictures since blogs without pictures are boring o_o
Freebies are always so great<3>Got them from a Liquitex representative that came to our Material and Methods class in Parsons. Last semester we got free prismacolor stuff.. Sadly all my stuff were.. lost because of this really confusing event where our class took the whole box of stuff that was meant for 3 classes.. Here's a pic:
But being a good person, I gave all of my stuff back for a reshuffle since the other two classes didn't get anything. And in the end, I was left with only a four pen box.. (note the A... ;_; uno.) Some people were smart and didn't give them back...-_-; muuuAnyway I haven't ever used acrylic before but I guess it's a good time to try nowXD... I'll start when the time is right>>
The Beginning Part 2
I had a lot of time to kill since my flight was scheduled to depart around 12:35 to Detroit 
oved the camera when she scared me. Too bad I can’t show you guys~ It was really cute.
oved the camera when she scared me. Too bad I can’t show you guys~ It was really cute. Afterwards, I went to the bathroom. It was still pretty early so the cleaning lady was still there. When I went into the stall I realized there was no toilet paper. Annoyed, I walked out of it and headed to the next one. It also lacked butt wipes. This immediately reminded me of Montréal…EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY! WE HAVE NO TOLIET PAPER. Thankfully, the cleaning lady brought her cart filled with refills so I asked her if I can take a roll to bring it with me.
After I left, I toured around the place some more. I was starting to get hungry at this point. I only had water and milk that morning and my tummy was growling. The only place that was reasonably priced and looked decent wa
s a Sbarro’s that was in the vicinity of the bathroom. I ordered a veggie pizza complete with tomatoes, peppers, onions and mushrooms. It wasn’t bad but it was sooo greasy. On the line for pizza were some guys in cameo suits. They probably were taking the plane to some exotic foreign country. I was jealous but then again, I was going to a foreign country too -_-.
I threw away my garbage and proceeded it walk some more. Around this time, I was really tired. I was wearing a hiker’s backpack and (dragging) a small “special-ed” bag that had my laptop in it. I sat on a bench for a while and stared at the decoration above me. There were paper figures strung together in the ceiling. My favorite one was the can of sardines that was spilling out.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Sneak Preview of My Unposted Korean Adventure!
Sneak, sneak:
"June 25th: I’m aboard the Northwest airplane heading to
one online. Dad was giving me a hard time since I was a bit slow at this and he doesn’t have patience. I headed to the luggage checkout place (D: forgot what it’s called) and after that, I was done. It was OOOOOh~!
Soap soap!
Herrrooo everyone! I finally got to make some of my own soap~ It's curing at the moment but I got some pics from my friend Makiko which I want to post up. I was looking for a fool-proof soap recipe that doesn't require palm oil (due to environmental and availability issues) but includes olive oil, coconut oil and castor oil. The first two are pretty important and are in most soaps. Castor oil is something I wanted to include because of the good things that it does for your skin! I found this link and quickly got to it.
The first thing I did was of course, mixed the lye INTO the water. For all strong bases and acids, you are supposed to add them INTO water ;D...something I learned in chemistry. I think it has to do with the reaction itself since it's exothermic. Anyways, after the NaOH has been added, the temperature goes up very quickly. It went up to 150F immediately. I wanted a nice ~130F before I introduced it to the oil. Although silicone is very heat-resistant, I don't think it was a good idea to keep it in there so this picture is a bad example of soap-making ;_;~ I kept it near the open window so the fumes won't keel us. It also helped cool the lye solution faster.
While the solution was cooling, I got started on heating the oils. I made sure I was using a non reactive pan (stainless steel) to make this soap. Actually, the reason why I decided to do this at Makiko's house was BECAUSE she had this stainless steel pot. I would go buy one myself but those things don't come cheap. However, as you will later see, this ordeal wasn't much of a big deal. The thermometer read 81F so I had to wait a bit longer until it reached about 120 ish.
So, the reason why the pot wasn't even NEEDED in the first place was because I realized I needed to blend this all in a narrow container. The Pyrex measuring cup proved to be useful and BLENDBLENDBLEND I did. The reason why I wanted a narrow container is so that I can blend easier with this stick blender I bought recently and also, I wanted little air as possible into this mix. I had to pull myself away from this delicious looking concoction which smelled of coconuts~ Mmmm, coconut pudding...I blended this shiz 'till it traced which is similar to peaking in egg white beating.
Just for kicks, here's a silly picture of me blendin' that thang. You can also tell that I practice safety by not donning appropriate attire (FASHION OVER FUNCTION FTW).
Here is the end result! I lined a tea box with freezer paper and let it set. The cleanup was a bit messy considering it was covered with oil and lye which greased and burned my hand in that order.
A day later (more like 18 hrs later), I cut them into bars using my handy-dandy miter box and now they are left to cure under my bed. I covered them with pieces of brown paper towels and they are sleeping comfortably on stackable cooling trays. They still have a translucent center for some odd reason...probably due to my impatience and cutting them a bit prematurly. Nonetheless, they will sit there, and be turned regularly for even curing. Hopefully it'll disappear before I start handing them out to people.
I would add more pictures but it's already really late (or really early) and I should be hitting the sack. Hope you enjoyed my post thus far. I will update on my knitting/crocheting projects as well! Also, I'm probably going to save up money for a sewing machine in the future *heartheart* and create AWESOME SHITS. Stay tuned!
Signin' off D:<
The first thing I did was of course, mixed the lye INTO the water. For all strong bases and acids, you are supposed to add them INTO water ;D...something I learned in chemistry. I think it has to do with the reaction itself since it's exothermic. Anyways, after the NaOH has been added, the temperature goes up very quickly. It went up to 150F immediately. I wanted a nice ~130F before I introduced it to the oil. Although silicone is very heat-resistant, I don't think it was a good idea to keep it in there so this picture is a bad example of soap-making ;_;~ I kept it near the open window so the fumes won't keel us. It also helped cool the lye solution faster.
While the solution was cooling, I got started on heating the oils. I made sure I was using a non reactive pan (stainless steel) to make this soap. Actually, the reason why I decided to do this at Makiko's house was BECAUSE she had this stainless steel pot. I would go buy one myself but those things don't come cheap. However, as you will later see, this ordeal wasn't much of a big deal. The thermometer read 81F so I had to wait a bit longer until it reached about 120 ish.
So, the reason why the pot wasn't even NEEDED in the first place was because I realized I needed to blend this all in a narrow container. The Pyrex measuring cup proved to be useful and BLENDBLENDBLEND I did. The reason why I wanted a narrow container is so that I can blend easier with this stick blender I bought recently and also, I wanted little air as possible into this mix. I had to pull myself away from this delicious looking concoction which smelled of coconuts~ Mmmm, coconut pudding...I blended this shiz 'till it traced which is similar to peaking in egg white beating.
Just for kicks, here's a silly picture of me blendin' that thang. You can also tell that I practice safety by not donning appropriate attire (FASHION OVER FUNCTION FTW).
Here is the end result! I lined a tea box with freezer paper and let it set. The cleanup was a bit messy considering it was covered with oil and lye which greased and burned my hand in that order.
A day later (more like 18 hrs later), I cut them into bars using my handy-dandy miter box and now they are left to cure under my bed. I covered them with pieces of brown paper towels and they are sleeping comfortably on stackable cooling trays. They still have a translucent center for some odd reason...probably due to my impatience and cutting them a bit prematurly. Nonetheless, they will sit there, and be turned regularly for even curing. Hopefully it'll disappear before I start handing them out to people.I would add more pictures but it's already really late (or really early) and I should be hitting the sack. Hope you enjoyed my post thus far. I will update on my knitting/crocheting projects as well! Also, I'm probably going to save up money for a sewing machine in the future *heartheart* and create AWESOME SHITS. Stay tuned!
Signin' off D:<
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Revival
So after months have passed, I've decided to change this blog from a "travel blog" into a "WHATIDOESTOPROCRASTINATE blog." This means every crafty thing I do will be documented in this blog, RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW. Sadly, I don't have all of my pictures with me at the moment and all my projects are usually "postponed" due to ...various reasons. Henceforth, this blog will encourage me to finish them and share my passions, creativity and creations with you all.
Signin' off~
Signin' off~
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