Almost a year ago, Konata and Yuki helped out with decorating the house with Christmas ornaments. This year, Miku wanted to help! Although, she seemed to enjoy posing with the decorations more than helping out.

I finally took her out of the DETOLF and changed some of her parts! I got really scared with taking her apart because 1. She’s my first Nendoroid and 2. The parts didn’t want to come off initially ;_; In the end, all went well and she’s more happy than ever.

This is our bare pre-lit artificial Christmas tree. To my knowledge, all we’ve had were artificial Christmas trees. They’re fairly easy to reinstall every year since you just have to stack the parts on top of one another, plug in, and let the magic happen. I do wish that one day, I’d have a Christmas with a fresh pine tree, but I’ll save that for another year. We never really had the lingering smell of pine in the house, although I’d prefer the smell of Mom’s cooking over pine any day Do you prefer a real tree or an artificial tree?

Tons of random ornaments in the boxes. They range from intricate Hallmark ornaments to McDonald’s Happy Meal ornaments to our very own ornaments made back in elementary school. My sisters’ ornaments seemed to have outlived mine, though. I used to have this clay Santa that I made in the 1st or 2nd grade, but his beard fell off and, eventually, the ornament broke

After decorating the Christmas tree, Miku finally decided to jump in and, erhm, “help.” Peek-a-boo!

After “helping” out with the finishing touches on the Christmas tree, she decided to befriend some of the other inhabitants that have taken over our living room. It never hurts to make more friends, right?

Miku also has a thing for the Coca-Cola bear. Whether she sides with Coke or Pepsi, I don’t know. Heck, she might even be an RC Cola kind of girl

And now, Miku bids you all a good night! Hope everyone’s staying warm and cozy for the holidays. We’ve yet to put up Christmas lights and decorate some more, but for now, our decorated Christmas tree will do.

As for me, finals are coming up Here’s to the next couple weeks of non-stop homework and studying!

This is an attempt to get back into blogging once more. I have so many things I want to mention, but I’m not sure if I want to keep at it since the events were long past. I have a ton of pictures from the last charity event Lester and I attended with the San Diego Star Wars Society, but that was from a month ago. Should I still do a recap post for it? I also have pictures from my little trip with Mom to the Bay Area (in which I acquired the durian Hi-Chew). Hmm.

Anyway, I’m curious. What’s in your bag?

I ran across a Flickr pool a while back and started to follow it. It’s interesting what people oftentimes carry with them. Do you use a tote bag? Purse? Murse? Messenger bag? I’d like to know!

Pictured above is a bottle of Lipton raspberry white tea (which I love drinking), moisturizer for my face, my sushi makeup bag, sunglasses, my trusty Nintendo DS that’s been through thick and thin, a travel bottle of anti-bacterial hand gel from Bath & Body Works that comes in handy, iPod shuffle named Exia (since I leave my 30 GB at home), Burt’s Bee’s lemon butter cuticle cream (great for keeping your nails in tip-top shape; it smells heavenly, too!), some pens (the Transcend pen was from CES), a notepad featuring art from Jean-Michel Basquiat, my Cupco Poketo wallet, and a bag of li hing sour watermelon candies that my sister bought for me from Hawaii. I love li hing candies!

Not pictured in here are my cell phone and my Chapstick. Those I usually keep in my pockets, not my bag. I’m notorious for losing my cell phone and Chapstick a lot. My Chapstick often falls victim to the washer and dryer because I always leave it in my pockets ^^;

I want to know what’s in your bag! :3

So…how many of you braved the malls and large department stores and did some Black Friday shopping? I know some people actually headed out to the outlet stores prior to midnight to do their shopping and some stayed in line to be one of the first in line to get deals on whatever. This year, I actually stayed clear of buying any kinds of electronics for fear of getting trampled on. I’m small, you know I also figured I’d save my purchases for online (or at least for Cyber Monday, *cough*Ineedanewrouter*cough*). However, my parents and I did find ourselves going to Fashion Valley this morning at 5:30 AM. I was actually surprised at myself for getting up and getting ready in record time; I could never do that when it comes to going to school

This post will actually cover some recently (and suddenly) acquired merchandise prior to Black Friday when I took a trip up to the Bay Area last weekend and today after enduring Black Friday. I will first start with this mini Chara Fortune from Macross Frontier. Can you possibly guess who this is?

If you guessed Alto Saotome…LOL! I was freaking out when I got Alto as the character. I was really hoping to get Ranka, but this takes the cake. Seriously. Pretty Alto is pretty.

Here are some things I purchased while in San Francisco this past weekend. I didn’t want to spend too much since I wasn’t going to be there that long (therefore: not that much space to store goodies), but I did get what I wanted. First off, I went to the figure store that I always hit up and bought a chibi RX-78-2! Isn’t it adorable? I want to display it next to my chibi Exia :3 I can’t really find it anywhere else in San Diego, so why not get it now? The other things I also got were toe socks and Hi-Chew from Ichiban Kan (which I find superior to Daiso in terms of merchandise). The thing is, it’s not just ordinary flavors of Hi-Chew: they’re white peach and durian. Wait, what: durian?!

Yes, durian! The stinky fruit we all know and love. I opened it up and smelled the candy right away; it’s not too bad. I went ahead and done a taste-test after shooting this photo. It’s very, very subtle. Slightly stinky, but it’s not absolutely horrible. It’s bearable, actually. Think of it this way: if you can stand eating an actual durian, this is cake. As for white peach, you can’t go wrong with that

Burping after eating a durian Hi-Chew does yield some interesting results, though

And now for the Black Friday purchases! First stop was Old Navy where everything in the store was pretty much on sale. First section I went to were the jeans. I love their jeans! I scored a pair of Diva boot-cut jeans for $15! Most comfortable jeans ever. The fleece pullover was only $5; you could say it was more of an impulse buy. I think it’d be cute to wear either in the house or going out; whichever works. The booties were only ~$9. I’ve always wanted a pair! I’ve actually been on this weird boot high, trying to expand my shoe collection outside of my usual high-top sneakers. I wore them around the house already. They’re very soft and comfortable. Seal of approval!

Second stop for me was Forever 21. Hiding in the corner was a section with $12 boots. Yes, $12 boots. I couldn’t resist I also needed to get some tights as well so I just went ahead and bought those. All together? $20. Win! Welcome to the family, my second pair of boots (I don’t think booties count, do they? If so, then they’re my third pair haha).

I’m not quite sure if this picture does this justice, but my goodness, I fell in love with this dress as soon as I walked into H&M! $20 for this gem! Such a beautiful dress, and it fits nice too! It was well worth the wait to both try it on and to actually purchase it. I wasn’t paying attention much to some of the signs at the front of the store and didn’t realize that you could get an additional 25% off an item of your choice if purchasing something before noon. All together, this dress was only ~$16. Ultimate win!

After browsing through more stores and not finding anything else, my parents and I decided to call it quits around 9:30 AM. The line at Starbucks looked like a Disneyland ride, so we ended up at D’Lush and bought a smoothie and some hot chocolate. By the time we left the parking lot, furious shoppers were already raiding the parking lots, fighting for that one parking spot. Oh goodness.

Hope your Black Friday went well today, whether you shopped or not!

My friend, Jennice, is finally back home from Japan! After not seeing her for a year, we finally got to meet up, catch up on life, and go on a carne asada fries spree. Here’s her welcome back gift: a letter in Uglydoll stationary, an origami Chansey, origami boxes with lucky stars, and a Tamagotchi. Yay, welcome back!

This was part of a gift that Lester and I gave to her. I made some origami boxes filled with lucky stars with lucky cats printed on them. I got the origami paper from a bon odori at the Buddhist Temple of San Diego a long while back. I don’t remember where I got the lucky star paper from. All I know is that I have an insane amount of it

Before meeting up with Jennice, Lester and I went to Downtown to kill some time. We ended up at Ghirardelli in Gaslamp Quarter. Nothing like two scoops of chocolate ice cream, mmm.

We liked it so much that we had no problem finishing it, even though the ice cream was melting fast due to the heat. What’s your favorite kind of ice cream?

We were finally able to meet up with Jennice and picked her up from her apartment. From there, we made a stop to Lolita’s in Clairemont Mesa, where we treated her to carne asada fries. The contents of carne asada fries are simple: french fries, carne asada meat, sour cream, cheese, and guacamole. That’s it. I can’t even imagine how many calories this has, but it’s so good! It’s even tastier when topped with lime and hot salsa.

Carne asada fries carnage. I can’t eat this everyday, but if I don’t have it for a long time, I really crave it.

Afterwards, I hung out with her for a while at her apartment, looking at all of the goodies she brought back from Japan. This is one of them: a bowl from K-ON. Does the pattern look familiar to you?

Rest in peace, negi ;(

A K-ON metal CD that Jennice got from Comiket. I’m listening to it right now: there’s a Dragonforce x Fuwafuwa Time mashup! Also, Mio is riding a unicorn. A UNICORN. MIO AND UNICORNS. WAT.

She got me a Touhou bag with the characters from Imperishable Night. If you look at the bottom, Reisen Udongein Inaba is getting crunk Kaguya, Tewi, and Eirin are also seen at the bottom.

She also got me a Touhou wallscroll with Marisa and Reimu! It’s small, too! Good thing I have space on my walls to hang this; it’s so beautiful! She won this in a UFO catcher.

Not mine, but hers: some doujinshi she picked up at Comiket. One involving Fujiwara no Mokou of Touhou and a Macross Frontier doujin. Notice Ranka is wearing Sheryl’s clothing.

And here’s Sheryl in Ranka’s clothing. She looks rather cute in it

Here’s everything all together! Now I have some things to decorate my cubicle with Again, thank you for the stuff Jennice! And we’re glad to have you back home

I was inspired by Gordon’s post regarding Photofunia and wanted to mess around with the site, too! Enjoy the random photos and Youtube links after the jump. Image sources range from imgDump to Gelbooru.

Also, if you’d like, you can vote for your favorite images :3

1. Gundam Meisters :B

2. Mylene Flare Jenius of Macross 7 fame.

3. Because Orange-kun is nothing but manly.

4. Seems fitting for him, too ^^; haha

5. Nice boat da yo.

6. Euphie-sama!

7. Te te te…

8. Please don’t say you were lazy…

9. All hail ⑨! Cirno Cirno Cirno Cirno~

10. Dynamite Explosion!

11. More Euphie-sama

12. I’m going to share with you my favorite theme of Marisa’s: The Witche’s Ball ~ Magus. It’s actually not from Touhou, but from Seihou. Look up the extra stage from Seihou and you’ll see

13. Minmay x Mylene <3

14. Our very own Super Dimensional Cinderella, Miss Ranka Lee :3

15. This picture actually makes me sad ;_;

16. Oh, Marisa.

17. All hail Lelouch! NIPPON-PON

18. Miss Sheryl Nome, the Galactic Fairy

19. You get to burning! The lovely Ruri Hoshino from Nadesico.

20. Reimumu~

21. The Super Dimensional Cinderella and the Galactic Fairy :3

On Saturday, I accompanied Lester to another 501st event, this time involving a surprise visit to the Boy Scouts of America Pack 825 in Eastlake. Their annual Blue & Gold Banquet was Star Wars-themed and involved a cake decorating contest with the Cub Scouts. Little did they know that the adults running around looking at the cakes were the very same people up on stage in costume.We actually got there a lot earlier than everyone else. Meetup time was 5:15 PM and we got there at 5:00 PM only to see one other car. Everyone else started trickling in within the next half hour or so, so all was well. We saw some familiar faces from the Big Bay Balloon Parade and met even more people from the Southern California Garrison.

Everyone hung out in the cafeteria kitchen while the hosts were still setting up. It was the only other place for everyone to store their costumes and suit up.

Plus, how often will you ever get to see Stormtrooper armor in a kitchen?

Aside from the banquet being their annual celebratory banquet, it was also Star Wars-themed. The Cub Scouts held a cake decorating contest that also involved Star Wars. The kids were really creative with their cakes, too! This was one of my favorites: nice use of Pocky and a Clone Walker.

This cake won first place. It’s supposed to depict Boba Fett in a Sarlacc pit, but it looked more like a Boba Fett octopus! Awesome cake, nonetheless.

The prizes for the kids included action figures and what not, but the top two prizes were very noteworthy:

A Star Wars Creepy Crawlers mold maker! I didn’t even know they still made these! I loved these things.

1st place: a handcrafted Clone Trooper figurine. HANDCRAFTED. This was assembled by our very own Clone Trooper, Gene. It’s amazing!

After we took a look at the cakes, everyone went back into the kitchen to suit up and surprise the kids. The kids were being distracted with food and Star Wars trivia while everyone was getting ready.

Lester and Mike, the battle-damaged Trooper.

Yay, Shadow Stormtroopers!

Caught off-guard

Messing around before going on-stage.

The kids’ reactions to everyone appearing on stage were priceless! They were so ecstatic about actual Star Wars characters appearing right before their eyes. I was also surprised as to how knowledgeable they were about certain Star Wars trivia, considering what’s been the hype as of late is the Clone Wars.

The kids that won the cake decorating contest. I love how the Snowtrooper (Barry) and General Veers (Ben) are looming over.

After seeing the 501st on stage and presenting the prizes to the kids, the rest of the time spent was a meet-and-greet frenzy. Everyone was running around getting autographs from their favorite characters and taking pictures with them. It was great seeing everyone’s faces light up at the sight of them.

Vader uses children as desks.

Hi-5s for all!

Thumbs up!

Serious business.

Even more serious business.

Waiting in line for Boba Fett’s autograph

The expression on his face is hilarious!

Group photo of some of the people that went backstage. Some of the others ventured off to the kitchen so it’s not representative of everyone.

One of the best things about this event was not just having the 501st there, but informing the crowd of why they do the things they do. They’re not just a bunch of people that dress up for fun: they give back to the community as well. I really do hope people realize this.

For more photos of not just costumes but delicious cake, you can head over to my Flickr account.

Until the next event!

As winter break drew to a close, what better way to spend it than with your good friends? Within the past couple of days, we’ve had a picnic at a park, dinner, saw one another again on campus, and celebrated the Lunar New Year. And you know what? I’m not tired of them at all.

Here are a couple of pictures from the past couple of days. Enjoy! If you want to see more, you can always check out my Flickr. Also, if you have an account on Flickr, you can always add me too

On a slight tangent, if you want to trade links or want to be added to my blogroll, I’m more than happy to Just say the word and I’m totally down for it.

Forget the Superbowl. This is football at its finest!

Everything is better on a stick!

The majority of the girls from the regulars at Montezuma Hall. Love them!

I don’t even remember what was going on at this point. Awkward positioning is awkward

Mirror’s Edge!

On the centipide structure, model-status time.

PWNED.

At Fuddruckers; one half of the group.

There’s the second half!

The most beautiful expressions ever

OM NOM NOMS

>:x

Some phở to warm ourselves up during the Tet Festival.

Coconut waffle! They tasted better last year, but they’re still tasty :9

All smiles

As I still write up my review on Nadesico, have another camera phone photo dump! I can’t sleep quite yet even though school starts up tomorrow, so I present to you: more random photos. I saw this particular image over at a Costco. Who knew that a hot dog and mustard would fall in love?

Aloe! One of my favorite drinks. Have you ever tried it before, or are you scared to?

At the local mall under construction: Red Ribbon, Jollibee, and Chowking in one area. If you’re Filipino, these establishments may look familiar to you.

A pair of Onitsuka Tigers with Tokidoki print that were, sadly, a size larger than I usually wear. They’re so pretty ;_;

Spelling fail

Meat Party! Woo hoo!

SHARKS! WITH LASER BEAMS!

Playing Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix at CES

The weird pod gaming chair thing. It looks like something from the Matrix.

Because everybody needs a Thrustmaster.

Now that’s a widescreen monitor.

On Monday, Lester and I went alongside the San Diego Star Wars Society, the 501st Legion: San Diego Squad, and the Dented Helmet to the 2008 Port of San Diego Big Bay Balloon Parade held annually on Harbor Drive. Lester was volunteering to march and asked me if I wanted to volunteer as well as a wrangler and photographer. I actually ended up being a wrangler, runner, and photographer all at once, but hey! In the end, it was a great experience.

We arrived there at 7:15 AM since check-in time was 7:30 AM. However, the ticket dispenser machine at the lot we parked at malfunctioned and ceased to work! I and a bunch of other irate customers had to flag down a parking attendant to see if we could get an alternate way of getting our ticket voucher. We eventually received a voucher that we had to pay at the actual office (which was luckily across the street) whenever we were ready to get out of the lot.

After that whole fiasco, we met up with a Boba Fett (Gene) and a Snowtrooper (Barry). We tagged along with them for a while until the whole troupe came out from Seaport Village.

It was awesome because not only did we have Stormtroopers, but we had Mandalorians, Jedis, a Darth Vader, a Snowtrooper, a ship director, a Princess Leia, and a Chewie! Oh, and of course, a Shadow Trooper

The Big Bay Balloon Parade is held every year on Harbor Drive in commemoration of the Pacific Line Holiday Bowl. This was my first time actually attending the event. I usually watch this on television after the game so this was an interesting experience for me. It’s definitely more amazing in real life than watching it on TV.

While waiting to march into the parade, many bystanders came in to take pictures with the members. I caught this lucky kid wearing Clone Trooper armor meekly standing next to a Stormtrooper. Poor kid ;_;

Felixx/Darth Vader and Clydesdales. When you’re off the Death Star, you need a pimpin’ ride to get around.

Snowtrooper parking sign. DO NOT PARK.

Mandos and a really cute girl ;_; <3

We finally got around to marching around 10 AM or so. They said it was a mile long, which didn’t seem that bad. Unfortunately, the weather warmed up and I started to sweat since I was wearing a tanktop, thermal, and shirt alongside a scarf! However, I didn’t complain. I’m not the one in costume

The Legion makes Jedis-in-training carry the banner lol

Hi-5s for everyone!

Chewie getting assaulted by the camera :O hahaha

The group was a total hit with the crowd. Kids went up to the front of the sides to give Stormtroopers and the like some high-5s. It was an adorable sight to see firsthand.

The 501st lookin’ fly.

Stormtroopers always get the ladies ;D

A ship director, Princess Leia, Chewie, and a pair of Jedis leading the front of the pack.

Everyone in for a group picture! It’s times like these when I wish I had a wide-angle lens.

All in all, it was a great experience to be at the frontlines of a nationwide parade taking pictures and witnessing the crowd’s reactions. This was a great way to end the year: marching it up with Star Wars characters.

If you want to check out more pictures, they’re all on my Flickr. You can also check out the footage from Channel 4 on Youtube here. The announcers fail at life, and that’s not even the real Kermit the Frog, but oh well. Things happen Stupid announcers.

Cheers to the new year, all!

I wish there were Stormtrooper formals! About a little more than a week ago, my boyfriend and I went over to a winter formal hosted by SDSU’s APSA. It was their last main gathering of the semester and a bunch of their general members came out to celebrate the end of the semester with us all.

Since it was the last main gathering for a long while, my boyfriend and I decided to roll out in style. Needless to say, a lot of heads turned our way when we came around.

Just to clarify, he’s a Shadow/Blackhole Stormtrooper. Common assumptions by people are that he’s Darth Vader or a TIE pilot. In reality, he, too, is a Stormtrooper! He’s just short and dark hahaha. Also, you can see Shadow Stormtroopers in the video game The Force Unleashed. They’re canon!

More pictures from the formal after the jump.

Lester with my good friend and co-worker, Jay-R

With my fellow executive board member Sophia

Hoarding the cream puffs and soda all to myself!