Here Comes the Sun

I myself have a severe self-proclaimed case of commitment-phobia. According to the very official and scholarly article I'm in the middle of crafting... commitment-phobia is the persistent and constant fear of commitments and obligations. This particular disorder primarily affects adolescence in their early to mid teens and males in their late twenties to early thirties. People who suffer from commitment-phobia may experience periods of lethargy. They may avoid such activities as turning things in on time, leaving the house, returning calls/text messages, and sticking to promises. To an untrained eye, one may confuse commitment-phobia with pure laziness. Though rest assured, these individuals are not lazy... They just require a bit more motivation and time than others. No one knows what causes commitment-phobia, but it is certain that at this time there is no immediate cure.

However, I have discovered things that will make commitment-phobia exponentially worse. I've become one of those people. The people I used to both envy and despise-- people with a Netflix subscriptions. Just the other day I completed two seasons of Doctor Who. This apparently is doing nothing for my stress levels, as nine times out of ten you can find me screaming obscenities at characters through my computer screen. My reasoning; If I scream loud enough perhaps my words will travel through time and space and reach Steven Moffat. I'm convinced that it happens.

Here comes the sun by doctonton

A Song is a Weapon

The month of September marks two things, 1. The begrudging return to school and 2. My favorite and most under appreciated holiday of all time; International Chocolate Day (September 13th). It's hardly fair though that the two items on the list are not of equal weight. Though my love for chocolate is seemingly infinite and unsurmountable, my dread for school far outweighs a few pieces of free candy. I spent all of last weekend curled up in a fetal position watching Amélie. If only my life could be viewed through a warm toned filter. In the midst of my pity party, I also rediscovered my unyielding favoritism for Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away. Understandably this book is the best thing in the world, and it provided me with much consolation Sunday night. Side note, Haku used to be the object of all my anime affection until I found out he was twelve. oKAY

Book courtesy of my friend Justin

After spending three months virtually not caring about my appearance or clothing choices, getting back into the swing of looking presentable was harder than I had thought. Wearing pants again was even more of a struggle. I went through a brief angsty teen period over the summer. I was thinking of dying my hair blue, and studded literally every piece of denim I own. Just in case anyone else is going through a back to school "fashion rut", I laid out a few outfits of my own.

Just a few of my favorite things... Check out my backpack in all of its decked out Asian glory. I ordered it from Rakuten a few days ago, and it arrived at my house fairly quickly for having come all the way from Japan. Also I received these wonderful bows from Kim and Al's Bowtique (oh puns). Besides being unbelievable classy, I find that it stays in my hair all day. You should check them out! If you use the code Chihiro, you'll get 15% off your order.

A Song Is A Weapon by Stars

Love Love Love

Top: American Apparel Bottom: American Apparel Shoes: T.U.K

The Internet, if used wisely and carefully, is considered to be one of the most powerful and innovative resources known to mankind (unless you're one of the few people who still use Internet Explorer and AIM, I'm looking at you Mom). Essentially, without the Internet I would be nothing. I owe all my html genius to Neopets, my photo-editing talent to Myspace, my eloquent vocabulary to UrbanDictionary, and most importantly my makeup knowledge to the guru's on Youtube. A few years ago, I had no idea what a primer was and I was under the impression that Steve Jobs invented not only computer software, but also excellent studio fix foundation as well. One of the most frequently asked questions I receive is, "What kind of makeup do you wear?" So here I am no longer a makeup n00b, presenting my current ~beauty~ routine. I know this is long overdue, but better now than never right? If Natalie Tran can take the initiative to upload a new youtube video, I believe that I can find the will to write about my half-hearted makeup regime.

1. Etude House Sun BB Creme - After trying various Asian BB creme's, I've come to the smattering conclusion that this one is my favorite. As it was originally targeted towards a more outdoor "summer" crew, the BB creme is both water proof and has SPF 50. I like that it doesn't smudge or cake throughout the day and that I don't need to apply sunscreen underneath it. The coverage is medium, and very buildable. I would not recommend this foundation to you if you have a medium to dark skin tone. For reference I'm a M.A.C NC20 and it blends fairly well for me.
2. Lush Tee Tree Water
- I spray this on in the morning and after I shower. It smells very minty and leaves my face feeling very fresh and clean. I have combination skin, so I'm glad that this toner doesn't dry my face out or leave any oily residue. I also think that it's helped my skin stay pretty clear. Tee Tree Oil is naturally supposed to keep your face oil free thus preventing future acne. I like that Lush uses all natural products, so they won't do any harm to your skin!
3. Toly Moly Lip Tint (Cherry Pink)
- One of my favorite lip products I've ever purchased, and since purchasing it has become one of my makeup staples. I like a matte lip, so stains are perfect for me. I usually just dab a little in the inner portion of my lip and blend out creating a nice "I just had a cherry popsicle" look. The lasting power is wonderful. I won't have to reapply a coat for at least 2-3 hours.
4. Etude House Cookie Blusher (Sugar Macaroon)
- I love Asian beauty product packaging. The color I purchased has minimal shimmer and is a nice rosy pink.
5. Fresh Lip Balm
- I received these as a gift from Sephora. If you're a beauty insider, they send you a travel sized sample during your birthday month. I like that it keeps my lips nice and hydrated! The lip balms have SPF 15 which is nice for the summer. I personally wouldn't purchase them because for 20$, I feel like you could just use vaseline for the same effect.

Love Love Love by AvalancheCity

Take a Walk

Summer's almost over and all I have to show for it are these lousy bug bites. Though it has been some considerable time since I have last posted, you haven't missed much. As I've spent a cumulative three hours outside this entire summer, it's no surprise that in Crayola terminology, my skin has remained an unflattering "Baby Powder" white. While the rest of my family members maintain their "Blast Off Bronze" complexion, I stand off to the side looking sickly and pale. In my defense, Asian cultures pride themselves with having fair skin. For instance, this past weekend I came across this article in the New York Times. Yeah, how's that for extreme skin care measures? That just kicked my 80 SPF in the face.

Apart from my nonexistent tan, the second most notable thing that has occurred is that my music taste has slowly deteriorated. If I wasn't so ashamed to scrobble my lastfm, you'd find more than enough One Direction... All petty things aside, my life has remained very consistent. I'm now seventeen, so that's new. After compiling a list of activities that I can now "legally" preform, I discovered that I can

1. See an R-rated movie
2. Donate blood without my parent's permission
3. Buy alcohol in Cyprus, North Korea, and Greece

I also discovered that being only seventeen is still pretty lame. I did however receive some pretty KA gifts. Pictured below: Jeffrey Campbell "Raid", 20th Century Art Book Post Cards, Spiderman Pin, Pokémon Cards (duh).

Take a Walk by passionpit

Grandma What Big Eyes You Have (Circle Lens Review)

With Otakon approaching, I thought that in the spirit of good and accurate cosplay I should have a go at circle lenses. I ordered mine from pinkyparadise. Disclaimer: Soak your circle lenses in contact solution for at least six-seven hours before putting them into your eyes. The solution the contacts are packaged with are only meant to preserve/store them. I made the careless error of trying them on after I opened the vile. My eyes burned like @##*%*%. I showed the little girl I was babysitting the contacts, so I could gauge her reaction. Her response: "You look like a baby." Which I'm sure she meant that in the most endearing way possible. Kids, gotta love their refreshing honesty... If you're looking for lenses that will give you a cartoonish/anime look than I would suggest the ones I bought: Ifairy Super Crystal Violet, EOS Candy Pink, but I wouldn't suggest them for casual ever day use.


Ifairy Super Crystal Violet




Enlargement: ☆☆☆☆☆
Comfort: ☆☆☆
Color: ☆☆☆☆
Diameter: 15mm

EOS Candy Pink





Enlargement: ☆☆☆☆
Comfort: ☆☆☆☆☆
Color: ☆☆☆☆☆
Diameter: 14.50mm

Mountain Sound

Let me just take a moment to sweep the dust and cobwebs that have accumulated on my blog due to my untimely and long overdue leave of absence. If there was a contest for the best and most active bloggers, I would undoubtedly take last place. This year I fell ill to the plague that is junior year. In summary was life was overtaken by scantrons, SAT prep, English essay's, and the ungodly unit circle. If there's anything I learned this year it's that 1. Procrastination will be the death of me. I found myself scrolling through the depths of youtube instead of studying for exams and wanting to kick myself in the face because of it, entirely way too much. But alas, summer is finally here and for the next three months I can indulge myself in doing absolutely nothing and I can feel completely guilt free about it. I can't wait to return to school only to have people laugh and point out that my skin color remained the same shade as a bed sheet. The outside scares me. Actually, correction* being away from my computer scares me. In all seriousness, I actually have a pretty busy summer. Apart from my full-time nanny job... I'm going to be bustling around the east coast scrounging around for any college that will accept me, and journeying to Anime-conventions (no shame). I've decided that there's going to be no chronological flow in today's post, so I'm just going to jump into talking about my new circle lenses. I'll do a more concise and elaborate review later this week (don't hold me to that), but for now all I'm going to say is that the rumors are true. If you've ever had the aspiration of becoming a live anime character...

Tiny Vessels

Yet again, I've become incredibly sick. Somewhere between Saturday and Sunday, I must have come in contact with a really gnarly and bacteria ridden person. I'm looking at you fiercely bearded city-dweller. In retrospect I probably shouldn't have walked into that Sex store Saturday, but more about that later. Naturally, as sick people do, I found myself lying in bed all day. I've grown so pathetically bored, that I've even taken to listening to a few One Direction songs. Illness, it makes you delirious. It has recently come to my attention that I become 10 x's more melodramatic while ill, so to all my future roommates; I pity you. I'll spare you the personal reenactment, but this video is literally me.

After I was fully drugged up on ibuprofen, I went to go see Death Cab for Cutie. I know they're a bit of a thing from the past, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Surprisingly, the band preformed a lot of songs from Transatlanticism, which apart from Plans is my favorite album. They also played along side this completely mind-blowing mini orchestra, entitled "Magik Magik Orchestra." Does their band name have an anime-esqe vibe, or is that just me? Anyways if you didn't know, I'm a huge sucker for stringed instruments, violins especially. If I had to make any complaints, it would be in regards to the group of people who got out of their seats and started furiously swaying their arms. They started a mass movement across the theater and before I knew it mostly everyone was out of their seat and dancing. Normally I suppose this shouldn't have been an issue, but for a person who is completely incapable of controlling their body movements in a non-embarrassing fashion... this could be seen as problematic. Other than that minor incident, the concert was A + high quality. Ben Gibbard, may you never change your hairstyle. Links to DCFC with Magik Magik

• Passenger Seat
• Transatlanticism
• Soul Meets Body
• You Are a Tourist

Shocking Blue

Upon returning from the January SAT's, I began to go through a bit of a "quarter-life" crisis. In substitute of a fancy and expensive sports car, I decided to dye my hair. I went to the hairdressers and four painstakingly long hours later, the tips of my hair had transformed from a dull brown into a shade you'd see in a Katy Perry music video. My fifth-grade self would have been appalled. Back in 2005, I cringed at the word "crap" and was completely terrified of the teenagers walking into Hot Topic with their dyed-hair and obscure facial piercings. I vowed never to leave my GAP kids ways, and swore by my polo's and pleated skirt's. My father is horrified, and is determined that I'll never be able to find an actual job (but it's probably my lack of ~sophistication and work ethic that shot that one in the face not my hair), and my mother has no opinion on the matter because she regards this as "just a phase." By the start of the summer I'll probably dye it back to my natural hair color because the maintenance is too much for my laziness to handle.

Rambling

Presenting you with a long overdue "video blog". Do I ooze eloquence or what? The amount of "ums" and unnecessarily long pauses have been noted.

Asymmetrical Skirt, The outfit I wore to New York

Lazuli

To further perpetuate the "spring holiday" spirit, I thought I'd recreate the awkward family dinner atmosphere right here on my blog. Because I, like your distant relatives, haven't made an appearance in your life in months. You'll be playing the role of: the inappropriate grandparent, the creepy overly-friendly uncle, the cooler than you/less cooler than you cousin, and the seemingly endearing and "normal" aunt. You can then proceed to drill me with questions pertaining to school, my personal life, etc...

Q: Where have you been the last couple of months?
A: My absence was most likely due to a conglomeration of 1. My unforgivable laziness, 2. Standardized Testing/School, 3. Work, 4. My unforgivable laziness, 5. Work, 6. My blossoming social life (I've learned that venturing outside of your room once in a while, won't actually kill you).

Q: Are you going to prom? PROM? PROOOOOOMMMMM?
A: Nope. My hatred for public embarrassment, in combination with my lack of dancing abilities have led me to the conclusion that I would have hated Prom. I've still yet to live down the horror that was my grade 8 dance. Every once in a while someone will reenact my dance moves circa 2008, in which apparently I resembled a limp palm tree. As an alternative, a couple of friends and I are going into the city where we can participate in our own equally as fulfilling ~ shenanigans ~.

Q: What are your summer plans?
A: Possibly visiting up North, and out West. Specifically, Canada, California, and Boston.

-END HYPOTHETICAL DINNER Q&A-

This weekend, my family and I took a trip up to Brooklyn and downtown Manhattan. As my luck would have it, today was the opening day of the Brooklyn Flea Market, which I mentioned before in this post. If it's old, used, and doesn't reek of moth balls and must, chances are... I'll buy it. Though my family left empty handed, I ended up buying a pair of shorts. The best part about these type of events is watching the crowds of people. I've never seen a more impressive display of facial hair, than in Brooklyn, New York.

I purchased quite a bit of things, but I'll cover that in tomorrow's post. Somehow before the weekend's up, I need to fit in three blog posts. I have to make up for lost time, so wish me god speed.