Fangirl post! (V.I.P.)

I consider myself as a full-pledged V.I.P. (BigBang fan). I started becoming a half-hearted fan of BigBang in 2010 but then I have loved them more and more until in 2011, I became addicted. Now, we (V.I.P.'s and other K-pop fans) know that BigBang will be holding a concert here in the Philippines for their world tour (Alive). I died at the moment when I found that out and I just came back to life (I can't miss their concert, haha!). So yeah, I have been excited since then and I wouldn't forgive myself if I don't get the BEST seat in the concert. Although the best seat is in their dressing room.. kidding. Well, I'm ready to spend some moolah just to get a good (and I mean really good) view of the boys during the concert. Because of that excitement, I immediately bought the latest version of the BB light stick. I originally wanted to buy from the YGshop but then the shipping fee was too expensive. That's when my friend introduced me to a shop that her friend owns and then I bought two things: the light stick and the Alive album (GD cover). I admit that the light stick was expensive when I bought it but now there are many shops offering it at a much LOWER price so feel free to check other shops out. I just bought that immediately because I was really really excited and I don't care how much money I spend (haha! impulsive buyer.). Anyways, here are photos which I posted already on my instagram account (genina07). Follow me!

The light stick. (ver. 3)

The Alive album (GD cover)

I chose to buy the GD cover because obviously, by bias is GD. Anyways, let's all get ready for the concert and save some money for the ticket! Also, bigbangph (http://bigbangph.org/) has a project for the concert so check their website out for more details. It's dedicated to the boys so it will be a really huge project. Let's support Filipino V.I.P.'s and the hope for the success of the project! :)

A boring life post.

What's going on in my life these days? Well, as I'm expecting to graduate, I feel so lazy about going to university and all. I feel like I should have a break because I haven't had any real ones lately. All that makes me move now is the thought that I'll be graduating this October. Well yeah, I need one more push to get me through this.

One thing that is also bugging me these days is my tendency to want all sorts of stuff. I have to remind myself that I can't have all of those things and that I have to limit it. Some are material things and some are not. I really need to have one direction right now. I like different sorts of things that's why I tend to have many "wants" or "likes" to the point that I don't know which path to follow anymore.

There's only one thing that I am proud of right now. I've stopped drinking soft drinks and I hope that I can still go through with that.

A post about books.

I love books. I always buy them whenever I have enough money. Even if I don't really know whether the book would be good, I'd buy it once I declare it interesting. However, I don't really read it immediately. In fact I have so many books that are left unread in my bookshelf. The books won't even fit the bookshelf anymore. The reason why I don't read the books immediately after buying it is that I'm busy with school. As a student hailing from a liberal arts college, it is to be expected that I read a lot of things required for class. That's why my books get neglected easily. During the summer vacation however, when I just did internship and no reading required, I finished three books. Those are Catching Fire, Mocking Jay and Th1rteen R3asons Why.

I'll start with Catching Fire and Mocking Jay. I've already read Hunger Games (first book of the trilogy) way back before the movie was released. Then after being free from school works, I immediately started reading Catching Fire. All I can say about Catching Fire is that it is an action-packed book. I think it is the longest among the three because of those exciting happenings in it. At the end of Catching Fire, I was so mind-blown that I had to read Mocking Jay right after. While I was reading Mocking Jay (middle part), I had to stop. I didn't like what was happening anymore, and I feel like I'm being tortured mentally. Suzanne wrote the book in a way that you wouldn't able to predict anything because many things could possibly happen. I was like 'brain, please stop over-thinking and let me finish this book.' But my mind won't and I was getting paranoid by the minute. Then I decided to let myself breath and didn't read it for a day. When I got impatient, I read it with the decision of finishing it so that my paranoia would stop. I finished it and I will not spoil anything by commenting on the ending.

Next is Th1rteen R3asons Why. This book is by Jay Asher and my copy is published by Razor Bill. When I first saw this book at the book store (Fully Booked), it was in the section of the 'featured' books. Being put there was of course a huge thing, that's why I got interested and read the synopsis at the back. It was interesting and I already felt the excitement just by reading the synopsis. I then bought it and started reading it. It was a kind of book that I didn't have to put down just because I don't feel like reading anymore. I put it down because I needed to do something else. It was like a priority to finish this book because it keeps on growing inside me while I'm reading it. I can't help but continue to read. So the story goes like the guy lead, Clay Jensen, received tapes from an unknown sender. He listens to the tapes and he found out that the voice behind it was Hannah Baker, the girl from her school who committed suicide. By the time he had received those tapes, Hannah was already dead. Those who received the tapes were the ones involved in Hannah's decision to take her own life. The title 'Th1rteen R3asons Why' comes from the tapes. Hannah provides reasons why she took her own life and those involve people too. It's not much of a kind of book where I can relate with but it provides readers with a different insight. Sometimes I'd be mad at Hannah because of deciding to take her own life with those reasons. But the book also provided me a reason why those thoughts exist in the minds of teenagers. One more thing, I love the character of Hannah Baker and Clay Jensen. They have fresh personalities, unlike those in other books or movies that I've already seen before. I really love this book and I recommend it for those who like to read young adult novels. And for those who don't, I still recommend it because it has a unique way of narration which shows two perspectives at the same time.

Those are the books that I've finished reading this summer in the Philippines. Now school's started and I guess textbooks and journals would take the spotlight in my priority reading list. Since I am in my last term, I hope that I could read novels again (not as a school requirement) after graduation!

I also bought a Jane Austen collection of her seven novels: Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, and Lady Susan. This was published by Barnes and Noble, NY. I wanted to buy Pride and Prejudice only but the cost of that book is nearly the same as this cool compilation. It has an 'old book' feel to it that's why I had decided to buy it after thinking a lot. 

I haven't started reading it yet but I will once I have time. What I'm currently reading is (and the unfortunate book which would be dumped because school has already started) John Green's Paper Towns. I couldn't say much about it but it is a mystery type of young adult novel. I've already read John Green's Looking For Alaska and it was good but not so awesome (for me), and I have his 'An Abundance of Katherines,' which is also one of those books that I haven't read yet.

One last thing, I am actually collecting books and it is one of my dreams to build a library in my house full of books that I've collected in my lifetime.

Random Post # 2

I've been wanting to blog about many things these days.. but I was just too lazy to do so. Now I just want to update this so that I'd remind myself to blog about all sorts of stuff. I think that I'd be blogging about my recently acquired gadgets and makeup, a trip to a tourist spot in the Philippines (which will happen on Friday), and a book haul. Well, those are the stuff worth blogging. But maybe I'll post some more random things in the future. It's so fun randomly saying anything without planning or anything. And oh yeah, my cat is pregnant and I think she'll be giving birth soon. I love kittens. And my cat.

Sore ja, ato de buroggu shimasu. (I can't put that in hiragana/katakana yet 'cause I haven't figured out how to do that on this computer yet)

Etude Playhouse 2012 & Forever 21 SM North Edsa

I went to the Etude Playhouse: Pink Fair 2012 on its first day since I got a free entrance ticket for it through buying from Etude House anything worth 1,000 pesos. I didn't take that much picture since I didn't bring my DSLR (since it's so heavy). Actually I didn't take any pictures at all except in my BB. However, BB's camera is low quality and I just posted it on twitter.

The Playhouse was fun, with all the games, talk and freebies. Unfortunately, I didn't get any prize for the games since I was such a noob. -_-" The talk was however enlightening, like the Beauty 101 and the trend report both by Meg magazine. When I was done with the games, I decided to go to Forever 21 first since it's its second day of opening in SM North.

I bought these stuff:

Back view of the top

Front view

This is a pleated shorts and mine's a much darker orange.

White shorts with tribal print belt

Pictures taken from Forever 21 website: http://www.forever21.com/

I also bought sunglasses and a pair of feather earrings. The feather earrings was a last minute thing just to make my bill reach 5,000 pesos for a free F21 bag.

This is the free bag. ^^

A Quick, Amateur Photo shoot.

Model: My sister. Makeup & Photo by yours truly.

This was an unexpected photo shoot. I was just going to try out the 'smokey eye' look on my sister, then it turned into a photo shoot session. The location was actually just in our parents' room and the lighting was the yellow light installed in the room. There's a white space in that room so it was convenient. I've also touched-up the photos a bit like the one on the left, I tweaked the highlights, shadows, etc.

Same for this picture at the left, I've also just tweaked the lighting. the background gave off a white-ish color because of the TV. There are black and white versions of these first two pictures in my sister's Facebook account since she wanted it to be in B&W.

The next is in B&W since I thought that it is better without color. I used the preset in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom to give it a B&W effect. 

This photo on the right is quite a weird one. Through the course of my experience in taking photos of my friends or family, I've always had a liking on weird shots like this one where the model has a blank expression (I'm thinking of posting that other picture..). It's just that it's not pre-determined or expected. I played with this photo in Lightroom and I stumbled upon this effect and viola! I liked it. I call this one the 'frozen' look.

Love Rain.

 Love Rain is Jang Geun Seuk's new drama with Im Yoon Ah from SNSD (Girl's Generation). The story basically has two parts. First is the part set in the 1970's, and the second is the present. The first four episodes of Love Rain is dedicated to the 1970's part.

The screen cap on the right is Jang Geun Seuk <3 and in just 3 seconds, he fell in love.

So how does it go? The first part is set in the 1970's wherein a college student, Seo In ha (yes, I got bothered at first when I found out that his name is the same as my nickname), fell in love with a college girl named Kim Yoon Hee (Im Yoon Ah). However, things got complicated when something happened. I don't want to spoil this stuff because I basically watched this clueless of what would happen. (I was right with my guess though..)                                                                                                                   
Look at how they dress (at the right)! 

The title. Why is it called "Love Rain?" Look at the photo on the left, that particular frame tells a lot of story so I think there aren't much to be said here.

 And the screen cap on the right also tells a lot. I put it there because of its importance so yeah. Well, the guy there is Lee Dong Wook (no, not the actor LDW) played by Kim Si Hoo. Lee Dong Wook is a med student and he comes from a family of doctors. He's also a "casanova." He's pretty charming..

Well of course, Jang Geun Seuk here on the left is happy playing tennis. I just want more screen caps of JGS. >.<

And yet another screen cap..









These screen caps come from episode 1 of Love Rain. However I'm on episode 5 and later is the airing of episode 6. I'm just waiting for the English sub and I'll be able to watch it. That is why I cannot talk about the second part yet because I don't know which details to say. But if you do some research, the second part is about the present. This will not sound good because unfortunately, Kim Yoon Hee and Seo In Ha will not be together. That's why the present is about their daughter and son, respectively, and their own love story. If you've watched the Korean film "The Classic," this is quite like it.

Random Post

This is random post #1. I will blog about random things from time to time when I have time and energy to do so. Well, this first post about randomness is firstly about the layout of my blog! I'm so lazy to fix it and the PS in my laptop is not working. When I get ALL free time, I'll be making something like a banner 'cause the title part is too plain for me. I don't want to add color since white is the best for me cause it's neat. Second is about school. I've been quite slacking off lately this Holy Week vacation but I've already finished two works that needs to be done. However, there are many more to go and there's my finals. That's why I found time to re-start a blog because of pro-cras-ti-na-tion. Oh our good friend procrastination. Well, I'm currently slacking off. Third is about this blog and its future. I'm planning to make this blog last looong (cause my blogs tend to be short time ones). This will be my sort of investment so that I'll be reminded of continuing this blog by the time I graduate. I'm also hoping that my life would be REALLY full of adventures like the title of this blog. If not, should I change my blog address then? XD 

That's it for my random post #1 and more random posts to goo~

Makeup Haul: Etude House and The Face Shop

I was planning to go outside (yes, outside. I've been stuck at home) this Holy Week that's why I checked which malls are open. I checked online and turns out that almost all the malls are already open today. So I went to SM Masinag, to buy some goodies since I had extra money. I went to both Etude House and The Face Shop and I bought these:

Etude House

This is the 'Lovely Cookie Blusher' in 03 Orange

This is what it looks like..

Fresh Cherry Tint #01

Fresh Cherry Tint #01 (Red)

Happy Teatime Green Tea Cleansing Tissue. I always buy this as a make-up remover.

And tah-dah! I got this! I actually bought my sister a powder brush, that's why my purchase was 1,000+ pesos. If you purchase about 1,000 pesos and above, you either get a sticker something or this ticket to the Etude House Play House: Pink Fair 2012. It's on April 21-22 from 2pm to 7pm. There are lots of things to do in the Play House like make-overs, photobooth, games, etc.

 Face Shop

Phytogenic Infinite Powder Foundation with SPF 20 NB 25

When you open the box..

Powder Foundation itself..

Face it Designing Eye Shadow 04 Gold & Brown

Face it Designing Eye Shadow 04 Gold & Brown

Inside.. with 4 shades.

Swatches, clockwise from the darkest color.

 7P Eyeshadow Brush

 Freebies from The Face Shop!

I put on the Lip Tint, Powder foundation and Eyeshadow. ^o^

  

Trip to Full House (Incheon, South Korea)

When I was planning our (with my sister) trip to Korea, going to Full House was definitely included in our itinerary. The Korean drama ‘Full House’ is my favourite drama of all time since it was first aired in the Philippines. I was a small kid back then and the drama was aired in Tagalog dub. When I reached high school, I watched it again in Korean audio with English subtitles streaming from the internet. Until now, I am watching it over and over again. I’ve even persuaded my friends to watch it with me since I had bought an original director’s cut DVD of the drama. I love watching Korean dramas and this drama is first on my favourites list. That’s why I needed to visit its set ground.

We went to Full House on the second to the last day of our trip. I can say that it took us so much effort and time, since its location is quite far from Seoul wherein we had stayed at. So here are the details on how we got to Full House…

Since Full House is in an island called Si do, we had to go to Incheon International Airport first to ask for assistance on how to get there. Thankfully, there were English speaking tourist information assistants who helped us get a cab. We needed to take a cab first to go to Sammok harbour (still in Incheon) in order to ride a ferry to an island called Shin do. After arriving at Shin do via ferry, we actually taught that it was hopeless to continue our trip because we couldn’t see any cab. We then asked an ahjussi (mister) about how to go to Full House, and since it is a popular tourist destination, he could answer us. He made us take a bus and we asked the bus driver to drop us off near Full House. Turns out that Shin do is connected to Si do by a bridge, that’s why the bus could travel all the way there. When we arrived at a stop near Full House, it was still not in sight, therefore we asked an ahjussi again for directions. He made us follow him since he was also going to the same direction. Walking was tiring because it was so far from the stop! Forgot to mention it was also raining. (Yes, it was raining in a cold weather! Oh the torture) Then we finally arrived and all of my sufferings came to an end. The house was definitely beautiful. However, I’m disappointed that the exterior wasn’t quite preserved (it needs re-painting). But the interior was still the same as in the drama that I wanted to re-live it (fan girl madness). After touring the house, I was getting worried that we might not catch the last trip of the ferry back to Incheon which was at 6pm. Fortunately there was a taxi hotline and we asked the ahjussi caretaker of the house to call a cab for us. We then asked the cab driver to bring us to Incheon International Airport (the ferry can accommodate land vehicles). Summary of our transportation information:

Airport Train Line to Incheon International Airport > Cab to Sammok harbour > Ferry to Shin do> Bus to Si do> Full House> Cab to Incheon IA> Airport Train Line to Seoul> Cab to hotel

Monetary concerns: (per person, in Korean won)

Cab to Sammok harbour – 4,500 won

Ferry (roundtrip) – 3,600 won

Bus – 1,000 won

Cab going back – 30,000 won (this is cheap considering the convenience. Btw, this was fixed price, not by meter)

Entrance to Full House – 3,000 won                                

Travel time: 12pm to 8pm

However, I suggest that from Incheon International Airport, you should take a cab because it’s much more convenient. The cab can get into the ferry so you can just sit back and relax and let the GPS teach you the directions.

Photos!!

Ferry going to Shin do

Kitchen and dining area

Living Room

Han Ji-eun's Room

Hall, right is the door, left to the kitchen

View from the garden area

If you're planning your trip to Full House by yourself, or just simply concerned on how to get there, you can ask me about other details and I hope I can address your concerns. :)

Update:

Full house has been demolished. I have been informed by Steve Mercier that the house that we, Full House (K-drama) fans, love is now gone. Check out his comment below for his post about it.