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~

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 34F.” He pointed at the seat next to him. The girl looked confused and looked through her bag for her ticket. “Wow, I fail,” she said as she was half-walking away from her seat and half-looking through her bag for her ticket. She finally found it and I took a look at it. The ticket read 34J. I looked over the seat display on top again and sure enough seat 34J was next to the window. I felt a bit embarrassed for causing a scene so I quickly said sorry to her and took my seat.

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 Virginia and she’s in college in North Carolina. I think she’s a year younger than me. We talked more and complained how the T.V. wasn’t working. Every seat had a small T.V. screen built in the seat in front of them. We could watch movies from that screen! While we waited for the screen to turn on, Vicky told me about how she ran into so many problems in the airports. Her flight was delayed for 12 hours so after she complained to the airline about it, she got a free hotel room to stay in while the plane was waiting for departure. After that, her next plane was also delayed for a few hours. I was shocked at how much time she had to “waste” just to get to Korea. Well I can’t say JUST to get here because it is a very long trip. I thought 14 hours on a plane was enough but she had to wait another 15 hours in between. While we tried to play around with the remote control to get the T.V. working, I accidentally pressed the button to call the stewardess. She came up to me and asked if I needed anything. My face flushed and I said I made a mistake and she left with a slight annoyance.

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 Bronx) was going to pick me up so I looked hard for a female ajumma. Vicky spotted her friend so she left early. After looking around, I finally saw a man holding up a sign that said “Welcome to Korea” printed in script and on the bottom that said “Kim Hyo-Jung.” The man holding it was my uncle and I was a bit surprised. I called out, “Emobu!” and gave a quick bow. It was a bit embarrassing with so many people watching. So, we went out and waited for the bus. It was a long ride…the bridge was so long. I saw it when the plane was landing. It looked fairly long from up there but it’s a completely different story when you’re actually on it.

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.

The Beginning Part 4

It’s July 15^th now and I’ve been in Seoul for the last week. It’s been hot all day…and decent at night. I’ll continue my story of my plane ride to Korea. The plane ride was just filthy long…I spent 14 hours on my ass trying to find a decent position to sleep in. When I didn’t sleep, I watched the movies playing on the screen (later I found out it was just a projection). I watched Mad Money, or at least most of it. It was 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.

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 Seoul will depart so I used that time to go to the bathroom and look around Narita airport. As everyone from the plane stood in line to get into the airport, there was a white family that was partially holding up the line. One of the men of the family was frantically searching for his ticket. He was looking through his luggage and his backpack. The Japanese stewardesses watched them and asked if they needed help. After a few minutes, I was already ahead in line. Later I heard one of the females from the family shout, “Oh my gosh, it was in the purse all along.” Sounds like something that I go through all the time…

The airport was a small 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 ;_;.

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 walking
until 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 really 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 Taipei. I saw her ticket when she pulled it out. Either she was really tired or she was meditating because she had her eyes closed the majority of the time. When she was awake, however, she was counting beads. In her seat pocket was a pamphlet with a picture of a monk.

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 to race and the world beneath me started to shrink. The view was amazing… Long Island looked so small. The cars and people were even smaller. I can’t even begin to describe how I felt. It was a mixture of awe and fear. I took a few pictures of the view but it’s not as amazing as the real thing. For others it might be “just a plane ride” but for me, it was an incredible experience.

Because of the delay, there wasn’t much time to get to Gate 30, the gate to Narita, Tokyo. I saw people running but I took my time. I still had a good 10 minutes to walk there. The Detroit airport was amazing. It had a tram running along the upper side of the building. It looked like a life-size toy train! I couldn’t see much but besides that, it looked like any other airport.

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 compartment 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 like 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 New York. At this point, I decided to start small talk with the guy next to me. Earlier, I overheard him talking to the white guy about how he had to take a plane to Detroit and then this one to Tokyo and then another plane to Korea. Sounded like the route I was taking. So I asked him if he was headed to Korea. He said yes. Turns out he lived in Florida for 2 years as an intern at Disneyworld. He only had complains about it though…He worked as a lifeguard getting paid minimum wage ($6 something in Florida) and was forced to live in Disneyworld “territory” for $75 a week, which was deducted from his salary. He had to live with 5 other people sharing one refrigerator. Although his English wasn’t great, I still understood what he was telling me. He was a very traditional Korean so he said a lot of stuff about how the workers at Disneyland were racist, Disneyland itself was exploiting foreign-exchange students and how Americans are lazy and greedy. We also talked about the mandatory military service Korean men have to go through. He explained that men can start around the age of 19. He also pointed out that America is more “young” because they don’t have this mandatory service. He’s studying ocean engineering, which I found interesting. “A lot of physics and math,” he said which is something I can’t handle xD. It involves architecture so he knows a few things about it. He criticized the architecture of the Disneyland water park, saying how unsafe it is.

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 8:28 pm now. I think we’re still in the North American continent. When we were eating, we were in Canada so I’m assuming we are a bit further in. My laptop is running out of batteries so I’ll stop typing here.

The Beginning Part 2

I had a lot of time to kill since my flight was scheduled to depart around 12:35 to Detroit so what better way to spend it than exploring? I gave myself a tour around Terminal 4 …or at least a part of it. I walked down passing by many stores selling all different kinds of things, ranging from jewelry to cosmetics. I felt like I was at a mall-_-. One particular store caught my eye; it had a display case outside their store. Judging from the interior, it was some kind of massage place. The display case had a bunch of neck comforters that looked like pigs. They were pink and had a pig face on the end. I really wanted a picture of it but there were people standing outside the store. I felt weird taking a picture right in front of them so I walked a bit to the side. However, my efforts were wasted; one of the ladies who apparently work there stopped me. “Store merchandise! You can’t take pictures of them,” she said. She made me delete the picture I just took, which was a picture of the floor. I moved 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 was 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.

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:<