what is alice xi saying

My Alice Xi is saying "Paterland!", a name my sister and I used to refer to Amsterdam. You know, Amsterdam, mushrooms, Amsterdam--->mushrooms...get it?

You can make up what Alice Xi is saying by going here (click)

I want to go back to Paterland!

states I've visited

visited 17 states (7.55%)
Create your own visited map of The World or another interesting project

Looks quite pathetic on a map ... but it's okay, I honestly have no inclination to go to some of the countries I haven't stepped foot on. From now on, my travel money will only be spent for Japan, Hong Kong or Amsterdam trips. hell yeah.

There was a meme going on recently asking webusers which city they'd like to have a fully furnished bungalow in and many people answered New York, Paris or some other places in Europe. I don't have to think about my choice. It'd only either be in Hong Kong or Tokyo. I guess I'm very Asian in that way.

If I were to pick a western city then it'd be Amsterdam. I love New York. NYC is nothing short of fantastic but I don't think I can live there happily. The living pace is too fast and it can harden you in ways that no other places can. It's perfect as a holiday destination but not for settling down. Viva New York though!

that whatchamacallit

Ever since I returned to London, I've been taking supplementary herbal vitamins every day and I think it's keeping me awake late at night which is no big deal, really, because my sense of time has been pretty much squished, tossed, wrecked and mushed beyond recognition by this too-long vacation. Usually the nights suit me fine because there are no noisy cars passing by so I can do whatever I want in peace but around 4 AM last night, some neighbours were yelling and screaming at each other so loud that I thought it was dogs barking at first!

I peeped through the blinds out of curiousity and saw two females and a man storming out onto the streets while shrilling like banshees waking the dead. The screams were so high-pitched that they almost didn't sound human except for the constant 'fuck' word every now and then. I couldn't make out what it was that upset the woman so much but a short while later, the man drove off into the night but not before having his car kicked hard by the mad woman. The other woman tried to console her. My sis woke up from her slumber because of the extreme shrieking going on and she told me this happens at least once every two weeks. I wonder if it's always the same man....

Anyway, I went to Topshop the other day to buy the Christopher Kane killer croc dress and went on to browse the accessories as well. There was this section selling stuffed brooches and I bought a wiener dog brooch for a lovely friend who loves loves loves daschunds (wiener dogs)!!!

Maybe I'll get the poison mushroom brooch next time I go there.

and this is my current favorite accessory: a simple rope bracelet I bought from Notre Dame church in Paris. I should have bought another one for my lil sis as well.



I also bought some books during my travel. I'm not sure how I'm going to lug this extra weight back to Asia as I'm only allowed one 30 kg baggage for my flight at the end of this month. The top of the pack, the photofile by esteemed photographer Don McCullin, was acquired in my favourite European town, Amsterdam. You can probably get it at all major book stores though since it is a British publication. I got it at the American Bookstore because it was on sale.

The other three books were bought on my last day in Paris when I explored Le Marais upon the suggestion of a local friend. I even found a little bookstore for otaku there! Amazing. The little store was stocked with mangas and other comic books in mint condition. Tin Tin and Le Petit Prince paraphernalia were also available there. I wanted to get a I *heart* Tin Tin mug like my sister did but I know it wouldn't fit in my bursting-at-the-seams luggage.



The first book I bought is part of a series of photofiles published by Thames and Hudson, bringing together "the best works of world-famous photographers, in an attractive format and easily affordable price." Other titles in the series are,

Helmut Newton
Araki
Elliott Erwitt
Man Ray
Edward Steichen and a few more. Check them out on amazon if you're interested.

Don McCullin's probably my favorite. Most of his works, spanning over more than fifty years, are photographs of human conflicts and grief. The introduction to this photofile is excellent. Somewhere after the second page, excerpts from the photograher's autobiography and interviews were included and every paragraph of it is touching and succinct. Here's the second last paragraph of the introduction, for example:

I have a rather confused view of the world and the way it works. But the minute I hold a camera in my hands, the confusion disappears. As soon as I look through the viewfinder, everything becomes clear and transparent like crystal. I see the good and the evil in humanity. And I try to record them on film.

starving albino boy, Biafra, Nigeria, 1969

This photofile is definitely something I'd always treasure. Always.



Here are the rest of them, purchased so that I have something french to read everyday to improve my competency in it. The one in the center has been made into a movie and is coming out soon. I saw the movie posters of it at all the metro stations in Paris and decided to buy this when I spotted it at a small local bookstore.

Ma vie est tout à fait fascinante is a compilation of entries by famous blogger/illustrator Pénélope Bagieu. You can check out her blog at www.Penelope-Jolicoeur.com to see her tongue-in-cheek and interesting doodles. I've been reading her blog for over a year now so this book was a must-get for me :)

and this is the only thing I bought from the Louvre museum store. I don't know what do you call this whatchamacallit gadget but I'm sure you had one of these when you were younger. The gadget contains slides of the most famous works housed in Louvre museum.

Light enters from the matt plastic on the top left corner of the gadget and you can view the slides through the little pinhole at the bottom.

Below are my two favorite exhibits at the famous Louvre

Cupid & Psyché

Coronation of Napoleon and Josephine in Notre Dame Cathedral, Dec., 1804.

A copy of this hangs in one of the rooms in Chateau Versailles and I thought that was the original until I saw this larger version (this painting is ..err, beyond HUGE).

I'm very bored now. What should I do?

ciao,
mars

VOLTAGIC IS BAD

because it is just a reseller off Parade Hosting and you already know how terrible Parade Hosting's services are. If you don't know about it yet, simply google it or go to snarkforums to find out.

I'm one of the fools who were attracted to Voltagic.com because of the cheap plans they offer. The reseller hosting service is run by two females of unknown age and they do not provide any updates/notifications/explanation when the server is down, which is A LOT. When I first asked about the frequent downtime, they claimed that they have a proven uptime of 90 something percent. I'm no web wiz to start with nor am I resourceful enough to check reviews before shelling out $6-$10. Despite the warning bells from the unsatisfactory reply, I stuck on with it for a few more weeks (3 to be exact) just to get more squeeze of what I've paid.

BAD CHOICE.

Parade Hosting experienced database errors shortly and ALL OF Voltagic.com's accounts went down for days (literally). Still, no updates, no explanations, no nada until I sent out an email inquiring about it ON TOP OF A DIRECT MESSAGE ON TWITTER. They replied TWO DAYS later with a link explaining that Parade Hosting is down and you already know where this slice of true story is heading.....SOUTH. and history now.

Learn from my mistake. Don't be stupid like I was :(

Do not give a cent of your money to Parade Hosting or its resellers (Voltagic, etc) because even though they might upgrade to a server that crashes less often ( I refuse to even write "upgrade to a better server" because I deem it impossible already), this has clearly shown how unprofessional they are when it comes to customer service. When the server goes down more than THREE FREAKING DAYS (the last one lasted more than 5 days and I switched to Blogger immediately), the least they could do was send out a mass email explaining the nature of the problem. BUT NO. You have to ASK before they give you a link so that you might read the mumbo-jumbo of the problem at your own leisurely time. Nice.

To be honest, the tone of their reply was fine - not bitchy or annoyed, except for the curt reply I got the first time I emailed them regarding downtime. They may be two nice ladies in real life but with a service like that, it is still not worth your $10+- hosting fee. I didn't bother trying to ask for a refund even though I only used the service for barely a month. When I read the thread on the parade hosting downtime problem, some members were saying, "If you're not happy with the service, then just leave. As easy as that." (this said in various other permutations of the statement).

To illustrate this simply, their (PH) strategy is a little like:

• Hey, use us! It's really cheap! I mean, come on, even if you're a student, you can still spare $10 for a year's worth of hosting right?
• and you tried it.
• OOPS. MASSIVE DOWNTIME. YOU KNOW WHAT? WE'RE TRYING OUR BEST TO FIX IT TOO SO DON'T COMPLAIN. (you're a paying customer but if you complain, you're an asshole. wtf)
• days passed. DAYS. You know, days in interweb is eternity but yeah, days of downtime. enjoy.
• OOPS. STILL DOWN. HEHEHE. STILL TRYING TO FIX THAT. HEY YOU GUYS. THE REASON WE'RE DOWN A LOT IS BECAUSE YOU GUYS HAVE CREATED A LOT OF 0 (ZERO) BYTE DATABASES, OKAY? YOUR FAULT. WE'RE GOING TO DELETE THOSE DATABASES, YEAH? even though we already promised unrealistic bandwidth use and all that. I mean, you know that there must be a catch, so shut up. this is the catch.
• stop complaining! It's not going to speed up anything at all. If you hate us so much, then just leave! Too bad you already paid!

I was stupid.

Do not be like me.

Learn from my mistake.

I know the Voltagic staff were extremely frustrated by Parade Hosting's crazy downtime as well but it doesn't make their service less unreliable either.

Here's some good, reliable hosting solutions for you to check out:

asmallorange.com

geekstorage.com

and bubble.nu (free hosting)

I've decided that Wordpress isn't for me because of the constant need to upgrade the software but the majority of website owners out there are trying to get better at php, webdesigning and CSS, hence the more suitable choice of using Wordpress as the cms for their sites but whichever it is you use,

don't repeat my mistake by using a reseller of Parade Hosting.

you're better off using that dough to buy a sweet, lovely Sprinkles cupcake instead.

SITE GLAMOUR CONTEST

with a 'u', just the way I like it.

clicky click!

Dayna of AmourChaleur.com has kindly organized a competition with many, many sweet prizes. Ever since the start of the contest, I've been very interested to join but was too nervous to do so as I barely just started this blog then and well, basically I have nil web designing skills. Both conditions still apply (I'm not KYLE XY, sorry!) but this time, the difference is that I have the confidence to give it a shot.

Not that the soul of David Sedaris or (woops, Le Sedaris is still alive and kicking!) Oscar Wilde has decided to use my body as a medium to present humanity with yet another literary masterpiece or anything like that but it is mainly because it's a great opportunity for me to get to know more people on the web and strive to improve my writing in the process. That's killing two birds with one stone :)

My blog is obviously a little too bare to even be considered for anything related to design but I really like it and I'm keeping it this way. So the focus will be on the quality of my writing (or lack of) and getting better at it.

Cheers to the other contestants! I can't wait to read dozens of interesting articles!

xoxo,

mars.

Killer croc dress

Ok, I lied. I couldn't wake up at 7.40. I woke up at 8.15, changed and headed to Oxford Circus. The traffic there was so bad that by 9.20, I was still stuck at Piccadilly Circus stop so I got off in front of Selfridges and walked from there instead.

There were already quite a few women in the small square area showcasing the new collection. I even spotted a few Japanese guys buying the eyelet-and-mirror hoodies that are meant for females. hoho. Anyway, the only things I bought are the killer croc dress and a grey eyelet mesh skirt.

Now that I'm home examining my new purchases, the eyelet skirt actually looks better than when it was on the rack. maybe I should have bought the eyelet dresses as well but thinking back, they weigh a ton...each of them, especially the one with little mirrors, must have weighed at least 1-2 pounds and they all cost £120 and higher. That's enough shopping for me for today.

I stopped by Marks & Spencer on the way back to the bus stop and when I passed by Pret-A-Manger closeby, Hoisin Duck Wrap is still available! I had to get one and even noted that the time was 11.39 so the wraps were just freshly made. No wonder they were still available! Yay, feel victorious!

On an unrelated note, please watch Epik High's newest mv - Wannabe! It's hilarious! The only downside is that there's a continuation to the little story happening in the mv and that continuation isn't out yet. I can only waittttt.

*UPDATE* Now Andre approves of the dress after seeing it in person but he still scoffs at the pricetag, "Nice, yeah. But this? for 60 quids? Are you mad?"

Christopher Kane for TOPSHOP

I'm waking up really early (7.40 early enough, you think?) tomorrow to go to TOPSHOP for this dress. It's retailing at £60 but that's a fraction of the cost of C. Kane's signature gorilla-print shirt and I really like this crocodile print despite what my sis's roomie, Andre, thinks of it. So, may the force be with me and I get a hold of one of these tomorrow!

ps: the header is up! it's a picture I googled of Ali Michael, slapped on with the title of this blog and voilà, done! easy peasy. not very legal but hey :(

and I really, really like Ali Michael in this picture too.

lj cut

I just spent the last five minutes trying to fix my lj cut for the previous post. what fuckery. grrr.
The most noticeable change in me after my Europe trip is how big of a potty mouth I've become. dammit. I'm sorry if it bothers any of you. I can't stop cussing nowadays but I'm trying to revert back even though it's demanding all in me to quit that urge to roll my eyes and cuss when something doesn't go the way it's supposed to be.

Yes, I have an lj and it's the oldest blog I've kept. I started it in April 2005 so it's about 4 years old now but all the entries are very personal to me and that lj is completely locked both for leeching purposes (hello free_manga!) and as personal ranting ground. Since it's locked, I don't see the point of linking it here. Besides, I x-post most of the more recent entries here nowadays so my lj is just a copy of this blog with a precious, protected archive.

Anywho, I'm really saddened by the news that Jaebeom decided to quit 2PM and fly back to USA. Korean netizens are really scary and unforgiving. JYP's letter to the public regarding Jaebeom's issue made me choke back tears. He wrote it well. I hope 2PM will continue to shine despite everything that has happened lately. Now that Jae is gone (my fave member!!), I root for Taecyeon. I still don't know how to pronounce Taecyeon correctly. Is it 'taychon', 'tay-see-yon' or 'taychun'? Somebody tell me, please.

bye bye jaebeom.

By the way, have you seen the new Alexander Wang collection?

I AM SO HOPELESSLY IN LOVE WITH IT.

the mood, the ease and the subtle color combination. won my heart many, many times over. picture from : coco said fashion fades.

If I can only wear one label for the next three years, Alexander Wang would be it. I love his designs so much.

which reminds me how devastated I was when I spilled some of my liquid foundation on my A.Wang tank while in Paris. I need to get it dry-cleaned asap :'(

The kpop lj comms are all over f(x) right now. The girls are really pretty and they're doing all the right things to the path of great stardom. I especially like Amber even though she couldn't be any different than the usual k-celeb type I like. Their stylist deserved to have his/her salary doubled because they look dropdead gorgeous at every single performance. BUT their songs suck.

I don't understand why so many people seem to love the single LA chA TA so much. It's not catchy, the beats are weak and let's face it, the whole song is bullshit compared to other kpop songs. The only thing worth mentioning is the clothes and maybe, the set as well. I'd rather listen to L'arc~en~Ciel's awesome Pretty Girl anytime.

Ops, I need to go and shower now. Andre, my sis and I are getting dinner at Four Seasons with a couple other friends tonight.

ciao

coco cocoon

in my inbox today. for those of you who have money to burn this year...

Living out of a suitcase: Paris day 3

This is somewhat an off track post since I haven't blogged about the previous days in this trip yet but tonight's the last night I'm staying in Paris (for now, this year?) and I feel like concluding the journey in a post right now, right here, not when I'm back in London.

A shortwhile before noon, we had brunch at a boulangerie called La Petite Marquise along Place Victor Hugo street which was just 5 min away from our hotel on rue Copernic.

jus d'orange, some vegetarian salad for my sis, two pieces of cakes and potato salad with eggs for me.

After the light brunch, we took the RER train to Chateau Versailles which is located about 30 min away from the city center. While I was trying to figure out the train transfers to make at the station, a Frenchman asked to take a quick look at my map. I took it as an opportunity to ask for directions and he kindly obliged, even saying "Domo arigato and douitashimashite" repeatedly, mistaking me as a Japanese tourist. It was one of the funnier encounters I've had lately :)

A day pass at Chateau Versailles costs 25€ if you want to visit the garden (jardins) and the domaine of the super vain Marie Antoinette ^^ There is a set of 8 amazing contemporary art exhibits by Xavier Veilhan on show this season and most of them are located in the garden so I suggest buying the day pass instead of the standard ticket that only allows you access to the two wings of the palace.

Le Carossse, one of the contemporary art exhibits by Xavier Veilhan on display at the Chateau Versailles.

Chateau Versailles is HUMONGOUS. I even feel like a caps-locked HUMONGOUS is an understatement to describe its size. It's a palace, yeah, so it's not surprising that it's huge. To make a clearer comparison, I'd say that it's many times bigger than Colosseo (Coliseum) in Rome.

the Dauphine's bedroom. green to calm the mind and help her to sleep

My sister argued that Colosseo is an amphitheater but that's exactly my point - this palace that housed probably a few hundred people in its glorious time was bigger than a theatre that was built to entertain the Roman emperor AND an audience of thousands. How ridiculous is that????? Fuck those stories about the Dauphin and Marie Antoinette being charitable. After seeing the kind of place they lived in (up to their much deserved deaths) while the common people could barely make ends meet, I feel that death by the guillotine was even too light a punishment for them. That was easy, fast, clean death, yo. I'm sure they used a brand new, polished guillotine to chop off the royal family's heads and not the dull-and-caked-with-dried-blood ones used to kill heretics in those days.

only halfway through the garden. it's a longgggggggggggggggggg walk on gravel path. fml. seriously. Also, I was underdressed for the uber chilly day.

there's a serialized volume of the popular manga, La Rose de Versailles, in the souvenir store inside the palace!! omg :D

Afterwards, we took the metro to Opera station and walked along Rue Cambon to take a look at the famous Chanel flagship store - 31 Rue Cambon, Paris. I really like the current display at the store. It seems like Karl is saying, "It's time for oversized everything!!"

dinner at the popular Chartier in new Montmarte area. I had confit de canard, champignons and coupe mont blanc. Above is a grainy (excuse my lousy digicam) picture of the coupe mont blanc dessert. It's chestnut cream with whipped cream on top. tastes better than caramel but has a stronger almost-too-sweet aftertaste that lingers at the back of your throat when you're done with it.

close-up of the partially eaten coupe mont blanc.

at the Basilique de Sacre Coeur in Montmarte with a view overlooking Paris in the background. It was tough to get to Sacre Coeur. I had to climb up so many steps, endure piss smell on the stairs and fend off playful but disgusting teasing that borders on sexual harassment from shady men. yuck. I'll blogged more about it in my full Paris entry later and it'll be enhanced with pictures of the basilica as well :) that's my new gray angora striped sweater from ZARA that I bought because the weather was too cold for my outfit yesterday!

ciao.

frozen yogurt in fours

The lack of pictures in my posts will be compensated by pictures I took about a million months ago. *It feels like that many moons have passed, anyway*

By the corner of my bed in this tiny hotel room around the Champs Elysées 8eme arrondissement in Paris, my camera lays untouched. The battery needs to be charged but my Europe plug converter is being used to connect my Macbook charger, which is being used by my sister for her proofreading cases. I challenge you to repeat the previous sentence ten times, fast. I meant to confuse ;)

I should be uploading pictures taken in Spain three weeks ago but my drive has no disk space left to contain them temporarily and my sister has been busy using hers to complete her part-time job so I haven't had the chance to use her computer to upload those pictures. That, with each passing day, leaves me feeling less interested to do it eventually because more recent events stay fresh in the mind while older ones start collecting dust in this attic called my fickle mind. Not to mention that Spain is simply trash to me with the exception of Gaudí's works. And even among his master works, the one that is truly inspiring and impressive is only La Sagrada Familia because the rest lack an element of grandness. BUT yeah, the only places worth seeing there are Gaudí's brainchilds. You can get everything, and BETTER, in other European countries. Notice the more liberal use of caps lock here; it reflects how strongly I feel about Spain!

Anywho, the froyo picture above was taken a couple of weeks before July, when my friends and I were still in Los Angeles, eating out and having frozen yogurt for desserts every night. Ever since I made up my mind about going back home, I've been searching the blogosphere for interesting local blogs and it seems that froyo is a huge trend there because many bloggers were posting pictures and noting their experiences at the popular froyo stores.

Thinking back, this trend has gone through an amazing journey. Started in LA by a UCLA graduate (a Korean to be exact), froyo gained popularity as a dessert because it's the healthier alternative to ice-cream and is lower in calorie too - perfect for the health-conscious, vain population of the City of Angels. Celebrities caught on very quickly and since every trend there is basically determined by Tinseltown's elites, everyone followed suit.

That is a no wonder though because froyo is really delicious. I'm a huge, huge fan. My favourite is still the original Pinkberry since their frozen yogurt is more sour and less sweet as compared to all the other competitors' but towards the end of my 'happy time' in LA, I frequented Yogurtland more often because it offers a greater range of toppings and charges by the ounces instead of servings/sizes. You get more bang for you buck.

Now Asia has caught on to it as well. I'm happy that it's available back home. The largest chain there was started by my senior in college. I can't wait to fly home and try it.

oh.em.gee

Okay, so it hit me while I was surfing the net and I blogged a little about it before I started to lose my mind.

I will never be able to forget what it felt like. Good thing my sis was nice enough not to film me being super hyper, hysteric and crazy. She laughed the whole time while I paced around the hotel room panicking and packing all my stuff into the luggage all the while as my mind drifted in and out of lucid dreams. It was so surreal. Too surreal even.

The main problem was my overwhelming urge to say everything that comes into my mind and I literally had to cover my mouth with both hands to sleep. It's tough battling yourself every other second. I can't even begin to imagine what it'd be like to smoke or do anything stronger. For anyone who's wondering what I'm babbling about, it's marijuana. I had a 'spacecake' at Rookies Bar in Amsterdam on my last night there and let's just say, I felt like my world was a whirling space a couple of hours after that.

Fast forward a day later, now, and I logged in to delete the post (when the cake effect started to kick in) but it's not here anymore so I wonder if I ever typed it out at all (I'm sure of it, but...there's an element of doubt here). I don't know. But at least it's nowhere to be found.

I feel really sad to leave Amsterdam and even though I'm in Paris now, I don't feel the same excitement and that genuine heartwarming feeling I had back in the canal city. It felt more like home than any other European cities I've been to.

BUT, at the very least, I'm finally someplace where I understand the language :)

A demain!

will be meeting my french friend (sad, I only have one) for a scrumptious Japanese dinner near rue Saint Anne tomorrow.

- imissholland.

By the window sill

new loves I bought in Milan.

a darling with white-tipped tail outside my hotel room window. Amsterdam.

"I like cats to be fat. Super fat."

"Just like you?"

"Hahaha. Yeah. I like them lazy. It makes me feel like there is someone less productive than I am in the house."

"Ahahaha"

I like cats like Snowball in Cats & Dogs - fat, lazy, vain but easily subdued and kind at heart.

scattered mind begs not to be judged

It's 2:01 am EU time and I didn't take a nap earlier today yet I can't seem to find the will to shut my Macbook and just go to sleep even though I know yesterday's activities totally drained me out!

There is no way I'm an insomniac. Put me in any moving vehicle and I can guarantee you that I'd fall asleep within fifteen minutes. Let me rest on a stationary anything (flat, preferably) and I'd fall asleep even faster! True story: I fell asleep 5 times on a half-day trip from San Jose to San Fransisco which is only a one-hour train ride away.

BUT WHY AM I NOT ASLEEP YET?

the neurotic in me is acting up. I simply can't sleep because there is about a million (okay, maybe less than that) things running through my mind.

LET ME GET THEM OFF, MMM KAY? :)

Firstly, I'm so happy that the DNS transfer was completed so fastidiously!

So now this blog will simply be "parked" at Blogger for I am one lazy blogger who can't be bothered with anything other than writing well enough for myself (primarily).

This was mainly caused by the aftereffect of reading my old compositions which I almost couldn't recognise as my own voice anymore because I think I've completely lost the flair of writing that used to compel my former teachers into urging me to pursue English.

Bloody bollocks to that now. Definitely.

I hate that my current tone has a superficial or even a suggestively condescending element in it even though I try my hardest not to come off this way. It makes me sound like a snob who deserves a good beating. I'm not a snob. Anyone who knows me in real life can vouch for that but of course, the world wide web is a whole different plane of reality.

I can't please everybody but please believe me when I say that I'm not a snob and neither do I live high on the hog. I'm a fortunate kid, yes, but I never take it for granted and I've been through more struggles than the average people my age do.

:(

Moving on, as I said, this blog is just a log of some sorts for me. I'm human. I make mistakes. I have biases. You do too. I like to share my trials and tribulations. Hopefully they will affect others in some positive way one day. Also, I have this space because I like to note down everything that comes into my mind. I love life.

The blog will probably never be pimped into a gorgeous site worthy of any praises because I quit that a long time ago. I'm neither good enough in design nor do I have the drive to excel in it because I've accepted the fact that it is not my forté, especially after seeing works by geniuses such as Alfons Mucha, Rembrandt, Chris Spooner, et cetera. However, I do have utmost respect for people who continue to sharpen their skills in it. I like looking and reading nicely-designed websites. I just don't see mine to ever become one of them :( Besides, doesn't no-frills design suit this place better? My surroundings are cluttered enough already...

However! However, there will be a banner up soon. This site is looking too sterile for my liking. I need to spice it up just a little.

I'm planning to get it done by at least the end of next week.

In the meantime, check out the links I have on my sidebar :)

Alright, second thing to get off my mind is a pretty short one - I finished watching Charlie Bartlett. It's a typical coming-of-age movie that would otherwise tank without the noteworthy performances of the oh-so-talented Anton Yelchin (Star Trek fan, anyone?) and Robert Downey Jr.. Kat Dennings acting is below par. She was better in Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist but maybe that's because she has more lines in the later movie.

This is my favorite screencap from the movie. YAY or NAY?

Also, I've watched up to episode 3 of Skins season 2. It's the bomb. If you haven't heard of Skins series before, google it then waste no time and just start watching it. If you're a busy bee, at least watch the stellar Season 1. Dev Patel from Slumdog Millionaire is in it :)

Living out of a suitcase: Amsterdam II

I love Amsterdam so much that I decided to learn Dutch from now on.

This place reminds me of home (but better in layout and safety) that I couldn't stop gushing to my mom how much I love it when I called her earlier this afternoon. My heart was singing freely as I walked down the streets filled with wonderful stores and kind locals who have been nothing but gracious to me since I stepped down from the airplane.

The country and I started on the wrong foot actually. The night of my arrival in Eindhoven, I took the wrong train bound for the southern area instead of Amsterdam in the north. A conductor humored and guided me back on track and even went so far as to let the north-bound train conductor know that I wouldn't need to buy another ticket.

Before I boarded the delayed train, another staff baby-ied my exhausted sister and I again by making sure that we know where to stop but trains in Holland are fickle so we ran into another problem soon after. The trains probably have dozens of delays and diversions every single day. The right train arrived almost one hour late and when I got back to Eindhoven, everyone got down instead of staying on all the way to Amsterdam Centraal - the supposed final stop. I panicked because my mind told me that there is no way NOBODY is going to Amsterdam on that train but my sister insisted that we were on the right train because the staff back at the other station told us so.

A man at the end of the queue exiting the train kept looking at both of us and finally walked back towards us and asked whether we speak English. I said yes and he explained that because of the delays, the train wasn't going any further. That was really nice of him to do, isn't it? After all, he could have just walked out and assumed that we would figure out in a minute or two that the train was going nowhere and then we'd look like fools exiting the train late. Despite all that and the confusion involved, it turned out that we were on the right train but the generosity given to me by these strangers who speak a different tongue made a lasting impression and that is something that I'd always be thankful for.

That train route was diverged again later on but the conductor made an English announcement so once again, we changed trains correctly and finally, finally reached Amsterdam around 9 PM, two hours behind our schedule.

My feet were hurting, my hair probably looked plastered to my head and I was dressed too thinly for the weather, which is similar to London albeit slightly better. I'm pretty sure I looked like a mess when I arrived here last night but all fatigue was forgotten when I stepped into a tiny supermarket at the station and found Chicken Gado-Gado salad on the refrigerated aisle! And other tasty-looking foods in old Indonesian spelling. It was a taste of home I've been searching for for the past week. It might not be much, or as delicious as authentic gado-gado back home, but it was enough for me, enough to make me go to sleep with a smile last night.

Outside was pitch black speckled with dots of lights. It looked somewhat seedy but familiar to me. I was very thoroughly exhausted after having to deal with little dramas with the bus, airline and tourists at Rome followed by the crazy delays and diversions in the Netherlands. Then I looked out the window and I kinda already decided that I like the city.

I had tons more fun the next day but that's another story for another day.

If there is one European city I wouldn't mind living in, it'd be this.

on religion

I saw a really interesting quote by Napoleon Bonaparte on a fridge magnet in a souvenir shop today. Many people didn’t like the quote but I do, because it’s true.

xoxo from Amsterdam.

Living out of a suitcase: Amsterdam

My sis and I left Rome in the afternoon and didn't get here till 9 PM today. It's 11.00 PM. I'm exhausted but I promise you good stories later on.

In the meantime, I just have some things to tell you.

• I have changed my contact email from hello@cultureofmen.com to mars@verydefinitely.com.

Do not send me any email on this domain because my web hosting provider is not dependable and there is a LOT of downtime. When the site is down, that email is down as well. Initially, I set up a different contact email for this blog just so I know which site the reader stumbles upon (verydefinitely.com is my tumblr account) but it makes better sense to me to have all the emails sent into an email address that WORKS.

• Due to the bad web hosting experience I have, I'm thinking of moving this blog from wordpress to blogger instead. I'm not very design-driven when it comes to this blog and since wp needs very frequent version updates amongst other small maintenances, I feel that it overwhelms me as an average blogger who just wants fuss-free writing to be a priority.

Do you think this is a good idea? Moving from wp to blogger? I only have a few posts so far so if all else fails, manual moving won't be as painful and time-consuming as compared to having a blog with a huge archive. Please give me your wise feedback :)

Alright, I need to catch forty winks now. Tomorrow I'm going to tour the red light districts of Amsterdam. I've never been happier to be over 21! HAHAHAHAHAHA.

xoxo,

mars.

London prices and LA destructive power

Atchoooooo!

Why is London so cold? Seriously. I've been nursing a cold/flu for the past few days and sometimes I get better, sometimes it worsens but all in all, I'm still sick! How am I supposed to travel in this condition?

My sis and I went out to Piccadilly to print out our itineraries for tomorrow and buy a pair of jeans for me. I'm keeping London shopping to a minimum because we're going to better places in the next 10 days so I only got a pair of awesomely-named 3-D stretch tapered, skinny jeans from Uniqlo.

Since I have typical short, asian legs, my jeans had to be altered (for free!) quite a bit and the staff told me it would take 15 minutes to do it. Fine, I had the time. A gorgeous, blond gay guy did the pin-tucking to determine the length of alteration and I just needed to wait from there on.

Unfortunately, Uniqlo has hired quite a few (must be insiders) Japanese staff who can't really speak English so there was a miscommunication between the Japanese cashier and the alteration staff and my jeans were not sent to the right place.

Fifteen minutes later, when I asked if it was done, another English-challenged staff returned and apologised profusely (in broken Eng.) that I would have to wait another 15 minutes because the alteration staff didn't get my jeans the first time. I'm usually a very fussy customer and I would show my displeasure very openly but that Japanese girl looked really sincere and nice so I let it go. Besides, I was too tired to be a bitch yesterday, thanks to my cold. Otherwise you don't want to be at my service if you're not a competent staff.

Maybe that girl knew that I'm the sort of customer who'd blow a fuse over simple mistakes because she hurried over towards me once the alteration was done. I didn't even have to ask again. :) I'm really trying to change and turn a blind eye towards people and their mistakes because I've always been kindly accorded plenty by others. It's just mighty difficult to ignore the irritation that creeps up on me when it happens.

During the half hour wait, I walked around the spacious two-story store and admired the new photoset of models for the Fall collection. There's even Mathias Lauriksen in the lot! Uniqlo must be really rich, ne? But my favorite is the Asian androgynous face that is on all Uniqlo ads this season.

very, very leggy

I'm guessing that she's Philip Lim's rising muse Tao Okamoto but I'm not too sure on that since her hair seems to be way longer than Tao's iconic bowl-cut hairstyle. Does anyone know for certain who this model is? I like Asian models with sharper facial structure and cool demeanour like her.

Anyway, my sister and I rushed to Japan Center to buy groceries afterwards because it closes at 8.30..I think? I bought all the melon pan (melon bread) left because I like them so SO MUCH! Everything there is overpriced but since Japan Center basically has a monopoly here, there's nothing we could do about it but pay the price. One melon pan costs £1.69 and the macha melon pan costs even more!

The store even has macha muffins which look very delicious (and according to my sis, they are) but since it costs another £1.69 each, I decided I'd rather go hungry than buy a muffin at such a daylight-robbery price. No love for my favorite drink in the world either - KIRIN Afternoon Milk Tea (£4.75!!!!! for a 500mL bottle). I can get one for only USD 3 or 4 in Los Angeles and even cheaper in Asia.

I really have to watch what I buy here because everything is so darn expensive and food is definitely something I can compromise on since I'm trying to lose weight anyway. My target this month is to hit 105 lbs (about 49 kg?) but I'm not really sure how much I weigh right now because the weighing scale in our bathroom is a little wonky. I should take a picture of it one of these days so you understand what I'm talking about.

When I left LA, I weigh 116 lbs as indicated by my lil sis' advance, digital weighing scale there ;) but after my recent Spanish trip, I'm sure I've shed some. You know, living in LA really makes you (I mean me) very self-conscious of your appearance and image. It's inevitable because everyone you know looks good there. We don't even have to start on the celebrities, yeah? When you meet them at Rodeo, you'll understand other people's obsession with looking better. I say Rodeo because when they shop is when they dress up. In clubs, under the disco ball and dim lights, everyone looks good and sleazy all the same.

Actually, heck, you don't have to look too far. I went to USC and in general, the students are gorgeous :| Hmm, now I really miss USC (not for the good-looking student body, but for my friends, ok?).

I'm flying to Milan at 6.40 AM tomorrow from Stansted Airport, not Heathrow because I'm flying with a budget airline again, hehehe.

My first time with a budget airline was the flight to Madrid a couple of weeks ago. It actually isn't too different from flying with a major airline as long as you travel light. Of course you don't get any food, water or inflight entertainment but saving a few hundred euros/poundsterlings is definitely more worth it than having cheap snacks, no? The main concern is safety, yes, I know but these are short flights within Western Europe only, each lasting no longer than 3 hours so my parents let us take them. ;) I'll blog more about it when I finish drafting my Spain trip entry.

For now, I'll have to pack. Having no sleep tonight is a relief because I've been having very vivid and Kafka-esque dreams lately. It's the London weather, I tell you!

puppy can't roll over

this is the cutest thing ever.

Does anyone know what breed of dog is he? I'm guessing it's either a Boston Terrier or French Bulldog.

Inglorious Basterds

random: I've met Quentin Tarantino at UCLA!

If I watch this in Italy (seeing that I won't have time to watch it here), would it be dubbed in Italian or just subbed?

me no compreno italiano ne.....

Most likely I'd just end up watching it online. boohoo. That saves $$$ though. If any of you are looking for a good wesite to watch movies online, try www.stagevu.com

or if you know a better site, let me know! ;D ;D

ciao.

COSTA hot chocolate

my hot chocolate and my sis' cold beverage

The best I've had in a long time. I love coffee and hot chocolate. What is your favorite drink?

poupéegirl & 123 things

If you're a girl and even the tiniest bit into Japanese culture, you'd surely know the existence of pupe.ameba.jp where you can post pictures of items you own and dress your poupée (doll) with clothes that we can only dream of in real life. Maybe not all the clothes are dream-worthy but the doll's closet is definitely better than what most girls have. I'm pretty much hooked onto it as well even though I don't post pictures and dress my doll as often anymore. Here's my latest poupée look!

my pupe has no name

My snapshots always have boring captions because I don't know its word limit and it annoys me when I type a proper, full caption but the words get cut off when I look up at the screen. There's something weird in the previous sentence, I know. I type like a retard - with mostly two index fingers, so when I type, I look at the keyboard instead of the computer screen. But my typing speed is pretty decent, I promise! The way I type is a source of endless jokes and entertainment for my friends. I'm basically immune to any mean comments about it because it works for me and that is all that matters :D

I also took some pictures at Liverpool Street area when I went there recently.

the station

view from above

interesting....

gateway?

it was almost closing hour

restaurant bus

rows and rows of Indian stores

I call this street ACha Tiendas Lane. It's some sort an inside joke I have with my sister and this would probably only sound funny to Chinese people who live in London AND know a lil Spanish. The staff from these stores are pretty aggressive though. They all stand outside the store, calling out to customers to come in or sometimes, just making inappropriate flirty noises and what-not.

close-up. there's a restaurant called Aladin!

in the tube. That's not me, by the way.

Alright, I need to get going and shower now. We're going to the temple today ;)

Ash Stymest looking mighty fine

in this editorial :)

Ash Stymest rockin' a ciggy

It's the X factor. Something about looking perfectly edgy and androgynous despite the clichéd tattoos and ciggy in hand. I dig the expressions and hair though.

I still like Cole Mohr more in prints (he's not very nice in real life) but Ash's raspy voice combined with that Brit accent wins Mohr's anyday. But who knows if he's just another punk in real life as well. After all, he dresses like one.

wagamama at Spitalfields Market

positive eating + positive living

I had the Yasai Katsu Curry -vegetable katsu curry- and it was very delicious. The curry was spicy enough despite me forgetting to tell the waiter that I want it very, very spicy. If you forget to do this in Los Angeles, you'll get a mild or even bland-tasting curry and that is just not cool (with me).

Yasai Katsu Curry, £7.50

Price-wise, the dishes are pretty steep. The fresh carrot juice I ordered costs about £2.95 if I remember correctly and it came in a little champagne-like glass. The juice was good but definitely not worth USD 5. It's a case of paying more for the venue instead of the quality of food. If you have some money to spare for a decent Japanese meal, then do try out Wagamama's menu by all means :-D
Old Spitalfields Market
9 Horner Square
London
E1 6EW

buckled boots, rain & never-ending human stupidity

from pixie market

How perfect is this pair of boots, right? It's beautiful! down to the engraved buckles and flat, pointed front. I wish I can buy it or that someone would buy it for me but alas, I've bought way too many things and I want to shop in Milan later so I can't do any online shopping now. Ah, woe is me.

I want to blog about interesting stuff around me for the past few days, beginning with that cursed Notting Hill carnival which is the single most disturbing activity I've witnessed in London. My sister wanted to take me to her friend's place for char kwey teow but said friend's home is located near Portobello so we were stuck in the middle of the crazy parade, filled with stoned and drunk people dressed next to nothing and gyrating on the streets in plain daylight. According to the news I read later that day, about 500,000 people took part in the carnival that ended with a stabbing of a 15 year-old. To say I was disgusted is an understatement.

Every corner of the streets in west London area was littered with filthy trash, chicken bones, styrofoam boxes and broken bottles. There were police officers everywhere but even they couldn't stop the throngs of rude, obnoxious people from causing ruckus and petty crimes. I saw how one woman tried to hurt a police officer and swearing excessively while my sister stopped him to ask for directions since many streets were closed to public access for crowd control purposes. Fortunately the woman's friend was sober and she tried to restrain the crazy mofo to avoid being arrested.

I couldn't stop swearing under my breath while walking away from lecherous hands of black perverts that swarmed the streets. But that wasn't all. We almost got caught in a stampede near Portobello. Luckily my sister and I dodged away pretty quickly and managed to push our way through the immense crowd.

I'm glad the event is an annual thing so I don't have to deal with that kind of mess and inconveniences ever again.

It was probably the only somewhat hot day in London in recent time too.

It's been raining for the past few hours now and as much as I like rain, this is getting annoying because my laundry takes a long time to dry and my sister just dragged me to the nearby Indian mom-n-pop store across our apartment - IN THE RAIN - only to get toothpaste and shower gel.

I sulked all the way to the shop because it was cold, wet and I was only dressed in pajamas and my powder blue sleeping robe. I don't like going out in my pajamas :( My black floaties made splashing sound with every step I took and when we got to the store, I didn't put my hood down. I stood still on the brown welcoming mat for a minute, hoping that my ankles and floaties would magically be dry. It wasn't a wasted trip - I bought three bags of potato chips in Sweet Thai Curry and Sweet Chillies flavors but before we left, the lady behind the counter commented on my pajamas. It embarrassed me :o I promise I won't go out in home clothes again.

At the apartment, my sister's flatmate, nicknamed Spidey because he smokes Mary Jane everyday, filled the hallway with pot smoke. It smells like piss and I think I'm getting more stupid each day from inhaling all that smoke. My sis and her other flatmate A-C have been actively looking for new potential flatmate to replace pothead Spidey, preferably an Asian who doesn't eat others' food items without permission and is considerate towards others. Spidey lamented about losing his job recently but if he's that hard-pressed for money, where did he get the pounds to buy all that pot? His half-assed apology on eating A-C and my sister's stuff didn't go well with anyone either because we all know that he's an unrepentant sleazebag, seeing that this has happened a few times already. Good thing A-C's temper blew up earlier today and finally gave Spidey a roaring lecture he deserves.

I hope everything will end well! I can't wait to go to Milan and Amsterdam! <3>

Living out of a suitcase: Prague

This post is long overdue because Prague was my first real Euro-trip destination and it was about two weeks ago. I'm set to travel through Milan, Rome, Amsterdam and Paris starting this Saturday and that means another break in blog posting unless I get decent, stable internet at whatever hotels my sister already booked. So, let me try recalling things that took place around me two weeks ago. Hopefully I remember the best ones!

Prague is really beautiful but very touristy as well. There were so many tourists there that I couldn't tell if a handsome or pretty person I noticed is a local or not but there were lots of good-looking youngins there for sure. The capital of Czech Republic is really tiny and knee-deep in fun facts and historical accounts, owing to its royalty and communist past. My sister SH and I jumped in with a free tour group and we managed to walk through the whole city in about 6 or 7 hours, including lunchtime and numerous breaks in between attractions. ALL ON FOOT as well.

an Italian tourist in our free tour group to Prague Castle. This is Wenceslas Garden.

We stayed at a little budget hotel (a first for me! :) ) in the heart of Lesser Town called Little Town Budget Hotel and the deluxe twin room we stayed in was not only spacious with high ceilings, a kitchen and a dining area but it's very clean, airy and comfortable too. In fact, it is so spacious that the sleeping area and the rooms are partitioned off by a huge double-door entranceway. I absolutely loved it. Our room window overlook the next street parallel to Malostranské nám. and in the morning, I could see store owners loading up fresh ingredients for the day's business into their brightly-colored shops.

We attended a free summer concert at a nearby music academy, showcasing the talents from the best students this semester.

Malonstranská station is just a 5-min walk from the hotel

I didn't buy many souvenirs because firstly, I wouldn't be able to fit them into my luggage for my flight back to Asia and secondly, I have no one to buy gifts for in UK besides my sister (who was on the trip with me) and my best friend whom I know very well wouldn't appreciate Czech local crafts much. Besides, she's having much more fun back in Singapore for her summer break.

churches in Prague are so beautiful

amazing architecture and scultures

Infant Jesus church/museum

Damien Hirst's Death and Love exhibition at Galerie Rudolfinum in New Town.

Besides the usual churches and museums, my sister and I also walked under the sweltering sunlight to check out Damien Hirst's exhibition at Rudolfinum. The exhibits have interesting names like Adam & Eve Exposed and are all very thought-provoking but unfortunately, absolutely no photography is allowed inside.

I remember one particular exhibit called Leukemia which is made from flies and plastic resin. It looks like a square block of solid 2-inch thick tar with a bit of orange speckles at random places. At first I thought the orange speckles were the flies but when I looked at it more closely (more closely meaning my nose was literally once centimeters away from the glass protecting the exhibit), I realised that the orange speckles were the resin and the block was the one made of flies condensed together!!!!

So, it wasn't tar. It was all flies, reflecting matted shine under the showroom lights.

Poppy seed bagel with cream cheese. yummy.

One of the more memorable lunches I had was at Bohemia Bagel. Their menu booklets are cute and the food offers have equally cute names like "Full Monty" and "I Don't Want To Go Anywhere After This Breakfast". Our tour guide, Sophie, told us that Starbucks stock their cheesecakes from Bohemia Bagel and charge 98 Kr for each slice whereas you can get one at BB for only 68 Kr ( 25 Kr is about USD 2 ).

Dalí and Alfons Mucha exhibitions at Old Town

Alfons Mucha's art nouveau illustrations are simply to-die-for. His works are indisputable genius with that trademark style and keen eye for the smallest details. If you don't know who Mucha is, google him right now! I hope what you find will inspire you to see his exhibitions one day because I was definitely impressed beyond expectation. The reproduced illustrations in prints sold all over the world do not do justice to the beauty of his original artwork because they always fail to capture the colors and overwhelming feminity present in all his works.

upper half of the Astrological Clock

Beware of pickpockets while you stare up at the famous Astrological Clock in Old Town Square.

breathtaking view

creative vandalism

Isn't it cute? They even added an iPod and musical notes for the crossing man!

John Lennon wall. Laská means Love.

About 15 minutes after I took pictures at the John Lennon wall site, a group of Italian tourist arrived, some of them running, and started snapping out their advance cameras or waiting at the side for their turn to take a picture with the wall as the background. Good thing I was there before them. There were Italians everywhere I went in Prague. The locals are mostly still Croatia avoiding the flock of tourists at home.

pretty scenes around the city

and my favorite picture from the 600 odd pictures I took in Prague is this:

7 AM Lesser Town

It's blurry but I like the disappearing tram and iconic Czech buildings around.

It would make more sense to break up this post into several entries so that I can post more pictures and observations but since this trip was taken quite a while ago, I get too lazy to draft it properly since there are thousands of pictures from my recent Spain trip waiting to be uploaded still. I have no time! My luggage is barely unpacked and laundries are not completely done yet I have to pack again for the upcoming trip to Italy. Traveling is fun, yes, but it's expensive and exhausting as well!