Do Re Mi

M e r r y C h r i s t m a s & H a p p y Holidays !!!   I've decided to stick around at home today and tomorrow.  It's just so crowded in stores during Christmas time and I like to avoid the traffic.  xP I think it's okay to have a simple Christmas.  Today, I vacuumed my room and dusted out my bedsheets.  Doesn't it sound great to sleep in a dust free environment on Christmas eve? lol At least someone seems happy about it... x3 During holidays or any day where a special dinner is in order, in our family, each of us contributes by cooking or buying at least one dish.  Mom made turkey and chicken. (✪㉨✪)  ヾ(*д*)ﾉ゛ GIVE ME MEEEEAT~!!!! I made "Vermont Curry."   "with a touch of apple and honey"   It was good but I didn't taste any apple or honey.  Guess you could say it had a hint of sweetness.. I bought Melona bars too.  These things are expensive! 5 dollars for a box of 6!

Today while I was on my way home from driving my sister to work, I came across one of the most stupid drivers I've ever encountered.  I've been lucky not to run into many crazy drivers in my lifetime but then again, I don't drive much to begin with. Back to my story, I was on a one lane road, passing a lake with some neighborhoods to my right.  About 5 cars away, I see a large, vehicle... sorry, can't say what kind of car it was but it looked similar in size to a GMC. So that car looks as if it's waiting to make a right turn into my lane.  I'm driving at about 45mph and that car is slowly inching its way out.  I think that like most cars, it's going to wait until I pass because obviously I have the right of way and I'm clearly in sight. Right as I'm about to pass that car, maybe 6 feet between me and them, they start to make their turn!  They do this as if I'm not even there.  I'm going too fast to stop, and my mind is in ov

I've been very happy for these past few days and am so thankful because my dog is finally eating again!  I felt like I had a large weight lifted from me because she's finally starting to recover.  It's one of the worst feelings to see a dog refusing to eat for so long. Recently we've been feeding her this low fat dog food the vet prescribed us.  She's okay with it but I can tell she really wants the food we used to give her (a mixture of homemade chicken and rice w/veggies).  I'm also glad to see that she's finally starting to drink water on her own.  No more giving her water through a syringe. She's starting to walk again which is great because she wasn't moving around much for a good 4 days.  On the 5th day, she started accepting food and sitting up.  We were all so relieved. The weather has let up after a long cold front and my dog is enjoying the warm sunshine.  Dog's always enjoy the simple things in life. ^^ Anyway, thank y

Hello again.  These past few weeks, the weather has been relentlessly cold and along with the bad weather came bad news for my dog. She got sick this past Friday, throwing up throughout the morning and not eating.  We took her to the vet and got the news about her pancreatitis.  They also mentioned issues about her heart murmur and possible kidney issues but she's old, 14-years-old to be exact, and that kind of news doesn't shock me...  I just felt bad for her because the vet told us that pancreatitis can be very painful for a dog.  Anyway, she got prescribed pain, nausea, and antibiotic medications and we took her home.  They told us the only thing we could do was to make sure she didn't eat anything for 48 hours and after that, see if her symptoms improve. It's been about 4 days and we've been giving her water through a syringe because she eventually refused most of the water we offered her.  She hasn't eaten at all since her diagnosis.  It's so st

'Once' weaves reality with fantasy in a surprisingly effective way.  This show is clever in creating anticipation through the possibility of introducing new fairy tale characters with each new episode. The protagonist is un-traditionally, not a teenager.  I had expected someone younger with the fairy tale theme tending to use younger actors for the protagonists in media.  Well, 30 is the new 20, right?  The story starts with Emma Swan (played by Jennifer Morrison) alone on her birthday and she just turned 28.  She's conned by her biological son to visit the elusive town of Storybrooke, located in a distant corner of Maine.  The inhabitants of this town are are under a powerful curse by the Evil Queen and cannot leave or else, "bad things happen." Despite Emma's persistent furrow in her brow, I'm very charmed by all the actors in the show, including her.  I especially like the character Rumpelstiltskin.  He has a great back story and I'm glad t

This is something I've observed over the years of working at a variety of jobs.  There are two people involved in this situation: The enabler and the complainer . The conversation is usually small talk with the complainer well, complaining in a whiny kind of way, and the enabler smiling, laughing, agreeing, and making it seem like the complainer is the most endearing and interesting person in the world.  I really don't get why this is.  I mean, I don't like listening to others complain all day..  Not in a whiny manner that is.  Maybe it's because I have a more proactive approach to my problems. I personally don't like this behavior because it reinforces bad work ethic in the workplace and it lowers morale.  This is the evolved complaining culture of America where complaining is a conversational topic anywhere and anytime in a work setting with little to no consequence.  It's non-productive and sadly, contagious.  It also baffles me why some people actuall

Hello again!  How was everyone's Thanksgiving?  With my family being so un-traditional, we had a nice quiet dinner eating Korean bulgogi and kimchi.  No turkey had to die for us this year.  XD It was nice not having the stress of baking a turkey.  I recall doing that one year and it took so much work... and our family doesn't even care for turkey! We've decided that this Christmas, we'll be un-traditional again and have a 'Japanese style' Christmas.  What is that you ask?  To those who don't know, Christmas is popularly known as a couple's holiday in Japan.  That means it's a big deal for people to hook up and have some gf/bf to spend Christmas with.  Now, for all the sexy singles it's a nice time to spend a peaceful night with the family with some good ol' Christmas cake and KFC.  Yes, KFC.  They've earned quite a name for themselves in Japan and make big $$$ selling fried Chicken on Christmas.  Our family won't necessarily buy f

I know... this show is old news.  6-years-old to be exact.  But on Netflix, there is one nice thing about old TV shows and that is the older they are, the more seasons are listed.  As of now, the entire series is up for the taking.  That totals to a daunting 121 episodes that are roughly 42 min each.  This is gonna take a while but I'm up for the ride. What I first found fascinating about this show was the small, yet significant similarity to Boys Over Flowers .  Or perhaps it's closer to Heirs ..  Regardless, both have rich and elite teens plotting against one another in high class society.  I was very curious to see America's take on this material. I find it fascinating to see the cultural differences between the two shows.  One can learn plenty about culture through media. Some major differences between Asian and American television is the sexuality.  At least, in the comparison of Korea vs. America, the sexuality is far more intense in American televisio

I'm at a sort of crossroad right now.  Recently, I've 'temporarily' landed a new job.  It pays better, I won't have to deal with clothes, and I have a set schedule.  But it's temporary.. D: The reason I'm starting to think about the big 'Q' word is also because there's upcoming schedule conflicts and I'm starting to feel the effects of the "downer culture" in the workplace.  What is "downer culture?"  I'll give an example. I walk into the break room for my 30 minute lunch.  I open the door and there's a bunch of my coworkers chatting.  Great.  Walking over, I grab a seat and sit nearby.  Now one would hope that coworkers could have a nice chat about some mindless cr*p about the weather or even a TV show they watched recently.  I wouldn't even mind if they were talking politics.  But no, 90% of the time, they're b*tching about work and repeating sh*t that everyone already knows about.  They're not th

WataMote - Watashi ga Motenai no wa dou Kangaetemo Omaera ga Warui! English title: No Matter How I Look at It, It's You Guys' Fault I'm Not Popular! Release date: July, 2013 Creator: Tanigawa, Nico (Manga, 2011) Genre: Slice-of-life, Comedy, Tragedy Story: Otome game obsessed Kuroki Tomoko has extensive experience in relationships and dated hundreds of boys... in otome games.  In reality, Tomoko has never dated a guy and has lost contact with many of her friends from middle school.  Now she's starting her first year of high school.  What will become of (extremely) socially awkward Tomoko? Review: This is the first time I've ever watched a tragic comedy genre anime.  Combining the two themes creates an entirely new flavor which is something along the lines of bittersweet and sarcastic. Tomoko is a character that touches the lonely soul in all of us.  I can only cheer her on as she stumbles through the social obstacles of life.  The way tha

Hello again!  My apologies for taking so long to make another 'Anime Food' post.  Enjoy! During my childhood days of watching Pokemon, I would often see Brock cooking this white stew thing.  It would look so yummy but I had no idea what it was..  And even though my entire family and extended family was Japanese, none of them ever made something like this.  (T__T)  The closest thing I got was corn chowder. Only recently did I discover that it's called cream stew and luckily, it's quite the easy recipe. ^^ I remember the very first time I made this.  I used a cream stew mix pack from the store (the one that has the blocks that you melt in the pot).  That turned out pretty bad so I highly recommend people make this one from scratch.  It's really does taste so much better this way.  I'm lazy so instead of having the pretty diced pieces of carrot, I threw in some baby carrots.  XD Close up ;3 I found this recipe on Little Japan Mama's rec

Release date: October, 2013 Director: Kang Shin Hyo Writer: Kim Eun Sook Actors: Lee Min Ho, Park Shin Hye, Yoon Jin Seo Episodes: 20 Genre: Romance, Chaebol The excitement of the great Lee Min Ho starring in a chaebol drama reached my ears soon after it was released. This drama gets off to a good start.  Fated soul mates meet in the foreign and exotic land of Orange County and go through various escapades together and eventually fall in love.  Only later do they meet up again in Korea and realize their vast social class differences.. Yet fate has it that they're living under the same roof!  Cohabitation drama it is!  I'm not a big fan of the first few episodes taking place in Cali (as novel as it may seem) with all the stereotypical 'white people' of America but what can you do...  Koreans going to school in America has been a long-standing, strange rite of passage that's slightly difficult for me to understand. At least the American setting serv

In my opinion, O-Powers are VERY poorly explained in the game.  I hope this clears up a few things about O-Powers. ^^ O-Powers Can I say screw Mr. Bonding and his terrible explaining skills?  I did not understand O-Powers at all for almost my entire time of gameplay.  I always thought he was just this weird guy you would find in a hotel room and he would *ahem*, "bond" with you when the screen turned black.  I'd be left wondering what inappropriate things he was doing to me in the dark...  After bonding time, he would give me some kind of bonding power that I didn't know how to use. Back to the topic, O-Powers are found on the PSS (Player Search System) screen that's located on the bottom screen of the 3DS.  Simply toggle with the R or L buttons to get there. PSS screen Once there, click on the icon circled in red. This screen should pop up.  If not, click the arrow to the right to get to it.  Click the 'O-Power' icon. This sc

Yeesh, after almost a month away from work, it's so weird going back!  After staying in another country, (especially a foreign one), their ways sort of rubbed off on me so it's strange to be back in my own.  (>__>) In Japan, everyone is so polite and nice, it's a slight slap in the face coming back to America where the politeness can vary quite a bit.  xP  Gotta put my 'tough coat' back on. Yesterday was my first day back at work in a long time and I hate to say it but even after being gone for a while, it's strange how quickly I could re-learn everything and pick up where I left off.  The average person would be thrilled about it but not me.  I felt... jaded?  Like I've learned everything I could there and with no room for improvement, I can't grow in that job anymore...  It's a little depressing.  I'm really happy that I recently got another job opportunity as a receptionist for an exhibit so I hope that the administrator replies to m

While in Japan, I was regularly updating my phone blog so it's pretty accurate in the times we did everything.  I only noticed about a day into the trip that the time on my phone wasn't showing Japan time so I had to manually type it in. Anyway, this is just something I thought would be cool to post.  It shows all the events that happened on the trip in brief detail.  I still plan to write more in depth about the trip though!  This is just a brief and accurate overview of what we did. ;) The newest posts are at the top and the oldest are at the bottom.  To get to the start of our journey, simply read from the bottom.  Sorry for the inconvenience! ( > __ < )     - 2013/10/17 At home in bed.  Had to sweep my room and put all the stuff we brought back away. - 2013/10/17 Got on the plane and went back in time to the US.  I'm pretty tired and want to take a shower.... - 2013/10/17 15:43 Made it to our departure gate. - 2013/10/17 14:00 On Narita Express