89. Towards The End

For my 100th post - yay! But for this post, it is nothing interesting... just recording what I've been up to as we near the end of 2013.

Basically, I have yet left the house since I got back home. Not because I don't want to mind you, but because it's too cold outside. And I don't like crowds. And it's too much work having to pretty myself up. Oh, and because every time I step out of the house, I spend money. I think I already spent too much this month and the last so I need to cut back.

Anyways, this is what I have been up to recently:

1. Watching anime (* recommendations further down)
2. Watching Korean variety shows (mainly Appa Oddiga - Dad, Where Are You Going)
3. Watching Korean boy band music videos and variety shows they go on (I had to recharge with Block B and B.A.P, my two favourite Korean boy groups - they are sooo hot)
4. Reading manga
5. Watching Detective Conan (catching up on all the episodes I missed while school was in session/exam season)

Some animes I watched that I really enjoyed and recommend are...


1. Silver Spoon
Hachiken Yuugo enrolled in Oezo Agricultural High School for the reason that he could live in a dorm there. In some ways he chose Oezo in an effort to escape the highly competitive prep schools he had attended previously, but he was faced with an entirely new set of difficulties at Oezo, surrounded by animals and Mother Nature. After growing up in an average family, he began to encounter clubs and training the likes of which he had never seen before. (Summary taken from Crunchyroll)




2. Hataraku Maou-sama (The Devil is a Part-Timer!)
The story is about a demon king named Satan seeking to conquer the world of Ente Isla but when confronted by the Hero Emilia Justina, is forced to retreat through a portal that transports him to modern day Tokyo, Japan. To survive and find a way to return to Ente Isla, Satan gains part-time employment at a fast food restaurant. (Summary taken from Wikipedia)





3. Servant x Service
In a certain ward of a certain city in Hokkaido... The ward office where Yamagami Lucy has been hired employs many unique characters on its staff. Yamagami and her colleagues are full of energy and secrets as they're hard at work in this workplace comedy. (Summary taken from Crunchyroll)







These three anime have also shown up on other's Top or Best anime of the year lists as well, and without a doubt, I totally agree!

So, this is what I have been up to without stepping a foot outside the house, while of course, keeping my weight consistent since it'll be difficult to lose weight again.

I have also sketched and doodled, but without a scanner here, I will have to wait until I'm back at the University to scan and upload them. Look forward to it on my Tumblr!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and I look forward to the New Year!

88. Potluck Gathering

The past weekend, my roommate and I held a potluck gathering for our friends to catch up and just have fun. It was set at 4:30pm and some arrived early, some a bit later, and some way later. But, that's okay, I didn't really mind 'cause the mood was good all throughout! I had a lot of fun.

We had chicken, drumsticks, noodles, sushi, brownies, honey castella cake, small pizza, stuffed aburage, spring rolls, lasagna, and even Ma La hotpot (translates to numbing spiciness).

At first, we just sat around the table talking and getting to know each other with some Icebreaker games, then we moved on to Twister and UNO. After that, when two of our friends came back from baking chicken and lasagna, we played Mafia and it got pretty intense. It had been a long time since we last played so we played for a long time.

After everyone left around 3am, the rest of us started to clean up and finally went to bed around 3:45am. But, of course, what's a sleepover without the talking and gossiping part? So, I didn't really sleep until 5:15am.

The next morning we got up around noon and started to heat up the leftovers from last night for brunch. After we were done and saw our guests out, my roommate and I started to pack to go home for the holiday.

It was a really fun night and I got to meet some awesome and fun people! I hope we'll be able to do something like this again!

Today is also Christmas Eve! Although I just lazed at home all day in bed, treated myself to some yummy Shin Ramyun, and watched a bunch of Korean pop music videos and gawked over the hot guys, I can't wait for Christmas! This is also my blog's 99th post, meaning the next one would be the big 1-0-0!! Wow, I think this is the first time I have been able to keep up with just one blog and for so long as well!

Anyways, there has been a total lack of pictures recently in most of my posts, so I hope for the new posts that there will be more visual accompaniment! Have a great Christmas Eve! Have fun and stay safe!

87. Catch Up

A lot of things have happened or have already happened. But, what kept me from blogging about all of this is this annoying laptop of mine. Although it is three years and a bit old, it is giving me a lot of problems. I have to cater to this darn thing, making sure that it has plenty of time to load up while I do other things. So, it takes its sweet time in order for me to actually open a browser and start browsing. When I watch videos, instead of playing the sound right away, it shows the video first without sound, stops until a minute later when the sound comes on, and when the sound matches up to the image that it's stuck at, then the screen will start moving again. It is not the video playing that I can't stand and be patient about, it's the long start up time. What kind of laptop needs over fifteen thirty to forty-five minutes to warm up and start up?? Oh right, this HP Pavilion of mine. I wonder why I even bought this thing in the first place. All I know is that I can't wait to get a job and save up to buy a new and much better one.

Anyway, I finished all my final exams yesterday. The last one was for my major Linguistics and although we could have a cheat sheet, double sided on A4 paper, I didn't make full use of the gift sent from heaven and decided to stupidly leave some things out (that I thought the professor would not test us on). But of course, I learnt my lesson for instead of doing the first question of Part B, which were all definitions - easy peasy, I had to do the longer questions of Part B, which were the second and third question. I didn't even have time to completely finish them either. So much regret. But, it's all over now. I just hope the one marking my exam saw that I didn't merely choose to go the easy way, but the hard way... stupid as that may be.

Today, I went to visit my high school, but before that, because we were a bit early than the scheduled time to meet up with another friend, we headed to the mall nearby. I just browsed around and bought two small boxes of Christmas lights for decorations (but mainly for night lights) and was heading towards H&M when I saw a group of kids preparing to sing. We were in luck as they were just starting (although there were some technical difficulties at first) so we managed to catch which school they came from. And, to my surprise, it was the elementary school that I graduated from many, many years ago! And, I also did the exact same thing - singing at the mall (a different one though)! It was really nostalgic listening to the kids and admiring them because when I did it back in grade three, we each had a duo tang of the lyrics provided for us in case we forgot, but these kids had managed to memorized all these songs in the span of four months! They all looked so cute and as I listened, I remembered back to talking with my three childhood friends, sitting casually on the low wooden fence surrounding the playground that we often played at in grade five, and just talking about moving onto middle school next year and how high school is a long way away still. And now, I blinked and zoomed right into University. I think I know what my dad meant now when he always says he just blinked and I turned from a baby to a University student. I remember jokingly telling him that if he blinked again, I would be walking down the aisle, and another blink would have a baby in my arms. Time is just moving so quickly, and it hit me even more as I got closer to my high school.

Visiting all the teachers and making the rounds were great, but the three teachers that I wanted to see the most all weren't there - just my luck. One left on vacation, another moved to a different school on an island, and another was away. I remember that whilst I was in high school, I was always busy and never stopped to think how fortunate I was to have such great teachers, but now looking back today, I really treasure the bonds that we have created with our teachers. Different from University professors, we're able to talk to them casually, asking how their days have been and telling them about our dreams. Cheesy as it may sound, I really like being able to stay close with my teachers, and the Christmas carol singing by the kids only strengthened that. I wish I still kept in contact with all my favourite teachers, all the way from way back. I can only hope that they are doing well and will be having a great Christmas and holiday.

86. S'More Shopping

The Black Fridays, Cyber Mondays, and even Cyber Tuesdays emails just don't stop. I have had to resist the urge to click on the tempting emails too many times. But, alas, when there is a very good deal, I will go and check it out. Luckily, that's what I did with Julep. It is a beauty product store, mostly known for their gorgeous nail polishes. I bought some for friends' birthday presents and just browsed the rest of the site for a bit. I purchased six gorgeous colours (mostly pink, because it can look cute, sophisticated, and polished all at the same time... I guess you could call it a safe colour). I bought Layne (Classic with a Twist), Gemma (Boho Glam), Charlotte (Boho Glam), Jennifer (Classic with a Twist), Zora (Classic with a Twist), and Vanessa (Bombshell).

Also, another one of my purchases from Chapters has been shipped, and it is one of their baby products: Large Bashful Bunny in Cream (by Jellycat) and it is just the most adorable and soft stuffed animal ever. But, I'm having second thoughts. Even though I have been waiting for oh so long to buy it, but because of the extravagant price, I have always managed to hold myself back, but as I saw that it was cheaper by around $20, I caved in. I think I will probably go return it because it is a bit too much money for just a stuffed animal. I guess the holiday sales got to me in the spur of the moment. Once it arrives, I will just have to sadly carry it in its box back to the store to return.

On another note, my purchase from a long while back finally arrived! It is a new case for my Samsung tablet and it is pretty cool. I have always wanted a wireless/Bluetooth keyboard and case for my tablet, but I could never find them for Samsung tablets. Well, I looked around eBay and saw this gorgeous red leather keyboard and case for a reasonable price and bought it. I just opened the package today and the keyboard will take some getting use to, but I'm excited to use it to take notes nevertheless!

(Imagine that in red, including the keyboard.)

85. Black Friday Goodies

I couldn't resist and bought two more things yesterday.

Industrial looking bracelet with turquoises accents. I think it would look really cool when paired with an all black outfit.

Some much needed hand therapy for my dry, dry hands. I used to really like Crabtree & Evelyn's Rosewater, but ever since they came out with Evelyn Rose, I've been won over. Rosewater is more on the sweet side, whereas Evelyn Rose is fragrant without it being overwhelming and there's a light bitter undertone. Plus, it smells more mature and lady-like to me.

84. Black Friday at Chapters

I splurged yesterday online at Chapter's and now I'm all set for anyone's birthday that suddenly pops up! Admit it, I bet you do it too. Anyways, part of my purchase has been shipped and I can't wait until they all get here! I'll just show what is on it's way, and once I get another email from Chapters saying the rest of my stuff has been shipped, I'll reveal more of what I bought! I'm so excited!! I love getting packages in the mail!

1. Makassar's scented candle in Ebony & Peach
2. Voluspa's scented candle in Mokara
3. Voluspa's scented candle in French Cade & Lavender
4. Flower and lace embossed leather journal

I actually received Voluspa's Mokara as an early Christmas present from a friend and truthfully, I don't like lighting candles, especially ones with an overwhelming scent even when it's not lighted. Because my friend knew this, she got me Mokara, which is light scented, so I usually just leave the lid open so there is some of it's light, classy scent, but not enough to overwhelm me. I really like it and the decorative tin it comes in is gorgeous. I love patterns (as you probably already know) and anything that's pretty, classy, sophisticated (without breaking the budget of course). 

83. What Made Me Happy Today #1

Although I had a somewhat bad start to the day (I saw someone I would rather not see), it immediately got better as I got to see an old classmate. I hardly recognized him because of Movember so that was a nice surprise. Also, because I only had one class today, I was able to have a break for myself before my club event. I watched a few YouTube videos (like Arthur) and ate Tonkatsu. It was good, except now I have to go buy more sauce for it. Afterwards, I caught the bus back to the University and headed to the event venue. Once I helped set up, I went to the door to help with the registration table. Unfortunately, not many people came as we had anticipated so that was quite a big letdown. But, we got over it pretty fast since we did have some people show up! Whatever, more food for the rest of us! Consequently, we all played games and stuffed ourselves with sugar - it was a good night.

I think I will try to do more of these What Made Me Happy Today entries seeing as how my Thank Friday series did not work out as I wanted. But for WMMHT, it will be difficult to do everyday, but I will most definitely try!

* Picture accompaniment not guaranteed sadly.

82. Inspired by Ikea

Where I live, there's this bench/shelf-like thing underneath our P.O. boxes, and someone put a whole bunch of the 2014 Ikea catalog there so I took one to look through when I want to procrastinate. As I was flipping through the pages, I came across this very comfy and girly looking arrangement and tagged the page for possible future inspiration. And yesterday, bored out of my mind, decided to freehand ink it.

81. Cooking on a Budget

"University is expensive." I'm sure most of us can agree to that. Not only are there tuition to pay, but there is also textbooks, food, and board. Let's not forget the application and admission fees as well. They just seem to be extorting money whenever and however possible. With so much of students' money going towards all these big fees and hidden overhead fees, how can we still have a fulfilling meal that's enough to keep us going through those long nights of studying (or cramming)? Fear not, there is a quick and simple solution I am about to show you.

The answer to your questions will be answered, and the solution is: soup. Ever since the beginning of the school term, I have discovered just how versatile simple cups of water and a few ingredients are. With the right seasonings, this soup will be highlight of your breakfast, lunch, and/or dinner!

The best thing about this "recipe", is that there is no restrictions or specific measurements. You can adjust it however you want and use anything you like. But, for this post, I will show you how I usually make my soup, as well as the Secret Formula I have trial-and-error-ed over and over again to find that perfect balance. Let's not waste anymore time.

1. First things first, boil water on whatever heat setting you want (if you can prepare the ingredients fairly quickly, put the setting on high, if not, then put the setting on low).

2. Next, prepare the ingredients:
- Carrots
- Potatoes
- Tomatoes
- Baby Bok Choy
- Bean Sprouts
- Mushrooms

3. Wash, peel, and dice to bite sized pieces.

Tip: Do not use green potatoes. They are poisonous and may give you food poisoning, and if consumed in large quantities, you will have an outer-world experience (ie. death).

So, chuck all the green potatoes away!

4. Once the water has boiled, chuck everything in the pot except the bean sprouts (unless you like mushy bean sprouts) and wait until it boils again.

5. In the meantime, you can get the Secret Formula (spices and sauces) ready:
- Ground pepper
- Salt
- Sesame Oil
- Vinegar

6. Once the water has boiled again, put a tablespoon of each in and adjust to taste. For the vinegar, a little goes a long way, so you don't need to put more than a tablespoon in.

7. After that, add in the bean sprouts and turn the heat off after a minute or two.

8. Then it is ready to be served. I like to have rice with my soup.

Not only is the soup healthy (no oil needed!), it is also super simple to prepare and is ready in 15 ~ 20 minutes. All these ingredients are pretty cheap and can be bought at your local grocery stores. You do not have to stick to the ingredients shown - play around and discover your own perfect Formula!

Some suggestions for other ingredients are:
- Tofu (for some protein)
- Noodles (substitute for rice)
- Eggs (more protein)

Now you know how to cook a simple, yet delicious and healthy meal on a budget. Enjoy!

80. How to Achieve Everlasting Friendship

If only I knew.

I know how to make friends and keep them, but it takes experience - not a guide - to tell you how to pick out the bad seeds from the good seeds. But, in this day and age with our amazing technology, it wouldn't be too difficult to search up some pointers at least. So, these are some of my pointers on how to make, keep, and sort friends based on my own experiences.

Once upon a time, when I was still Little Milly, I was very naive and trusted all those I met and befriended, smiling at them everyday and worrying about their problems. However, after a few incidents, that all changed. I became more cautious when making friends and smiled only for those that deserved it. I also stopped wasting my energy on other people's problems, but concentrated more on those most important to me and helped them in their time of need. But, how did I do it?

Well, remember during kindergarten when the teacher would say "keep your hands and feet to yourself"? Similar to that, the more "adult" version of it, as I see it, is "treat others how you want to be treated". This is also known as the "Golden Rule", or "ethic of reciprocity" (according to our dear friend Wikipedia anyways).

I am sure you have heard of this many, many times, but it is not just that Golden Rule you need to follow. There are also other things you must keep in mind in order to have that friend who was like a twin sister/brother that never was.

1. Value their opinions. Don't force your own opinions or beliefs onto them. You might think it's right, but everyone has different points of view. Instead, you should try to understand it from their perspective, or "be in their shoes" (in other words, listen). This may take some time and practice, but in the end, will not only make you a better friend, but a better and understanding individual as well.

2. Always make an effort to maintain the relationship. Even if they may seem as close as family to you, you still need to make an effort to ask how their day was. Like in any relationship, if someone gets too comfortable and stops putting in an equal amount of effort, then that relationship will slowly start to crumble as the affection wears off because of this comfort. This leads to the next point:

3. Never take your friendship for granted. Once you start taking your friend(s) for granted, I will guarantee you, it will fall apart for obvious reasons, some of which have already been mentioned. Once you start taking someone for granted, then that means you have set expectations on them, and when they fail this expectation you have arbitrarily put on them, you will be the one to complain, to criticize, and overall, start to develop a negative attitude towards them because of this expectation you built yourself.

There are lots more pointers, but then the list would go on and on, leading to similarities with others, so I will end it here. These are the "rules" I go by when maintaining my friendship, which also helps me develop them into a tighter and stronger bond. This pointers also helped me before in choosing whether or not a friend was worth keeping. Like how you should follow these pointers to treat your friends, it should also apply to your friends as well. If it is all just one-sided, I would not consider that a well-balanced friendship (and you may just be taken advantage of). Ultimately, the choice is up to you and how you want to live your life surrounded by either happiness, content-ness, or bad seeds. It is all up to you (no pressure).

P.S. After using these pointers (and some more) and you find that perfect soul mate, putting a ring on it would be wise. Or, in this case, a soul-friend and a bracelet. Here is mine and my best friend/roommate's that we bought today:

(Gold infinity sign bracelet from Aldo Accessories)

It is optionally to use materialistic objects to show friendship, but it is quite fun. Nevertheless, if you don't want to do that, you can still do other things together. For example, cooking a meal together, going on an outing together, or maybe even bungee jump together. The keyword is doing things together. Only are you together, will you discover more things about each other and learn to either accept them or reject them.