sunday afternoons are best filled with books

This afternoon, I finally got to meet up with D! It makes me so happy to have finally met her in person and we had a good time together. The nice thing about meeting people face-to-face you've already known for years is that there is really no awkwardness because you already know everything about each other, basically.

I dragged her around a bit, getting lost in Bugis on a hunt for bubble tea (I completely misplaced Koi somehow, despite passing it numerous times in the past, so we ended up at Sweet Talk), and then we went shopping at the DC Superheroes store (she got a Green Lantern shirt for her boyfriend; I got a Super Girl/수퍼걸 shirt - how many of you actually get the inside joke?). Next we made stops at Borders, with a break for coffee, and ended at Kinokuniya. I love bookstores, dear lord. They always remind me how much I want to own my own place and have the space and income to fill shelf after shelf with all sorts of books. I dream the big dream, you guys.

Kinokuniya is probably the end-all be-all of my favorite bookstores so far, if not for the ridiculously hiked up prices on English books. Thank you import tariffs. Prices aside, the selection of books available kind of make me want to cry with happiness inside. Thankfully, I did not embarrass myself. Thankfully, I did not go find a copy of The Giving Tree to read in public (another way to guarantee I will embarrass myself by crying in public).

I will get to see D again in March, when I go visit her in the Philippines and we go off on our beach adventure! ♥ I'm looking forward to my many travels, but first I must finish off my writing assignments and then I must make pleading eyes at my parents for more money. Better to be in debt to them than the government, right?

Perhaps I should start advancing my plans to marry a millionaire. Not as easy as Harlequin makes it sound, unfortunately.

gift of sunshine this Christmas

So now I'm home for the holidays, after bidding St. Louis adieu until commencement in May. I managed to return safely to NC after a harrowing 14+ hour drive, moving all my shit back with m in preparation of Singapore for the spring semester. :D Party on, dudes. Last semester is going to be so much more about food and drinking and traveling and seeing people than it is about law. But I've totally earned this, right?

Strangely, perhaps, the nostalgia hasn't hit me. It might yet, or it might wait until I'm actually back in the Lou in May before plaguing me with fond memories. I will miss seeing the people there while I'm in Singapore, of course, but for the most part I am just excited about being in a new part of the world.

Though I'm not even thinking that far ahead right now. Right now, I am focused on the holiday cruise I'm going on tomorrow with family! We're leaving out of Charleston and headed down to the Bahamas for five days. A sunny and warm Christmas, I hope, to go with the sunny and warm winter I'll be spending in Singapore. I am all up for this. Cold weather, I've had enough of you, thanks. I will not miss the cute coats and scarves all that much.

After I get back, I'll meet up with M and A at least, then be just productive enough to wrap up some last-minute things and pack for Singapore.

For now, I am looking forward to sunshine and fruity alcoholic drinks. Happy holidays!

celebres con el equipo de fútbol español~

Ahh football! There is so much I want to talk about but I guess I shouldn't constantly spam, right? But the Italy v. New Zealand game yesterday! The Brazil v. Côte D'Ivoire game! The fact that Kaká was red-carded - unbelievable. And while part of me enjoyed that (the part that likes drama, especially with teams that are not mine), I have to say: he elbowed the CIV guy in the chest, and the CIV player went down clutching his face. Ehhh. But I'll take it as trade-off for the second goal which was an unbelievably blatant double handball, fuck that shit. What was up with that ref?

Anyway, I was watching the Brazil game in a café with wireless but broken A/C. So the HDTV was nice and a ton of people had their laptops out, which amused me, but it was so disgustingly sweaty and hot. I watched Spain's game today in a pub with A/C, which was infinitely better. I had a work meeting at 11 that I carefully scheduled around the Spain game, haha. I have priorities, can't you tell?

I was so nervous about the Spain v. Honduras game because I always get anxious about my favorites; they managed to pull off the win they needed, which makes me happy! But they really should have scored more (Villa should have definitely not missed that penalty kick, for instance - and he'd have gotten a hat trick too, oh Dahveed). The goal differential is going to be important come the round 3 games; Spain you'll need to defeat Chile and with a good number of goals just to be on the safe side. Switzerland and Honduras - couldn't you tie at 0-0? That would be super, thanks.

In other sports news, Federer almost lost today to an unranked player, dropping the first two sets and winning the fourth set by the skin of his teeth. I'm not going to lie, I laughed. He will never be my favorite, sorry. Roddick did fine, of course, and Nole...had to go to five sets but also pulled off a win. Man. "Latest Wimbledon match of all time", they say: it ended at 11:41pm. I guess Wimbledon likes to end early... Anyway, as always, my heart is for Rafa. :) ¡Vamos Rafa!

And ¡viva España! Happy day~

In non-sports news, I saw Toy Story 3 Friday night and I definitely recommend it. I did not go in expecting to like it considering I was tired of the Toy Story franchise after the first movie, but Pixar managed to not disappoint. They surprised me, in a good way. :) The movie is really touching and sad at bits, but also really, really funny. There is a lot of action/drama that is melodramatic but the movie never takes itself seriously, so it's all in fun. We watched it in a full theater with families and kids, so there was a lot of group laughter and applause, which added to the experience, I think. I'd go see it again, frankly speaking.

The short at the beginning was also incredibly charming and possibly one of my favorites. I do think they got a little heavy-handed with the message (via the radio) when they could've been more subtle...but I guess subtle goes over a lot of people's heads... Anyway! Yes. The entire movie is recommended.

Other movies I am excited about: Despicable Me, Eclipse (I have no shame; I will totally watch and mock), and Tangled! The preview for that was really cute. Disney's take on Rapunzel, with a twist? I am intrigued. Can't think of anything else atm except, oh yes, PLEASE DO NOT PAY MONEY TO WATCH THE LAST AIRBENDER. If you have to ask why...

This is why.

Last round of games for group stages kick off tomorrow! Estoy muy emocionado.

this post brought to you by TMI

I have been feeling distressingly restless these past few days - I don't want a relationship because I know that I am not emotionally ready for that, but I want some physical action, dammit. I want to be part of one of those obnoxious tipsy couples making out in the backseat of someone's car while said someone is longsuffering and driving people around. I want to commit some annoying PDA and get glared at. I want some attention, directed solely at me, and I want some touch.

It's hard to feel so young sometimes, like I have never known what the world offers. It's hard to feel so old sometimes, like I've let slip past all my opportunities.

the springtime of our youth?

I love spring. I love it even though the pollen count climbs ever higher and covers the world in a thin film of yellow and has everyone around me (myself included) tearing up and sneezing in the most unattractive manner. Despite the human reaction to spring, the world around me is so gorgeous that I don't mind. I love the sunlight, warm and golden, not yet scorching hot and oppressive like it gets during summer. The leaves are just budding, young and spring green, and the flowers - spring flowers are my favorite.

I keep telling myself and others that my favorite flower's probably the gardenia but I might as well own up to the fact right now that it isn't. I love gardenias - they're pretty and they smell divine, but they are summer flowers and they grow on shrubs. I love spring flowers best: cherry and peach blossoms, tulips and daffodils, irises and hydrangeas and everything that is colorful and perennial and gorgeous.

Daffodils are so sunny and cheerful; tulips come in a palette of colors that just makes me happy. White tulips can be so elegant, too. Whenever (if?) I get married one day, I think I'll want tulips there. They are just so pretty. ♥

There are other thoughts I want to blog about later, but right now I'm just enjoying the gorgeous weather and season.

visual stimulation in exchange for cognitive stimulation

I spent the first weekend of Spring Break being absolutely unproductive in regards to school, which was my goal. I achieved it handily and instead got some shopping done, redyed my hair, read for pleasure, and watched a lot of movies.

So here are some thoughts:

Ponyo on the Cliff: Ponyo was...ridiculously good. It's very Miyazaki, very Japanese, and it has a lot of fantastical elements to it - but it was the brightest and most uplifting Miyazaki film I've ever seen. Ponyo was so cute and strange and endearing; Sosuke was earnest and sweet. The most frightening or dark part of the entire movie had to be the violent tsunami/storm, but it's nothing compared to the darker elements of Spirited Away or Howl's Moving Castle or, god forbid, Princess Mononoke.

A lot of the background art was colored with pencils and it was simply gorgeous. The little details in animation really stood out to me - the way Lisa closed a door with her foot, for example, when her arms are full of groceries. The way Sosuke ran - carefully and awkwardly - when he had a pail full of water in his arms. All the little details were very realistic despite the supernatural elements of the movie, and it was so sweet and innocent and it is currently fighting Howl's Moving Castle as my favorite Miyazaki film. Honestly speaking, I liked it more than I liked Up! The storytelling styles are obviously very different, but I think Ponyo did a better job. While Up! was also fun and moving at parts, I kept comparing it to Finding Nemo and the kind of cohesive storytelling it could have been - but it fell short. Ponyo, being measured on a different scale, still did really well. Imo, of course. But I have a thing for more subtle stories that seem to focus only on one narrow premise (a tiny goldfish princess meets a five-year-old boy and falls in love) but really say much more.

Also, the ending song is too cute for words. I love this movie.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs: So I only vaguely remember this picture book from my childhood, but I'm pretty sure it did not turn out nearly as cracky as the movie did. The movie is... Okay, so the directors got high, and then they made this movie. That is basically what happened and watching the extra behind-the-scenes bits did not do much to convince me otherwise.

That said, this movie is hysterical. Very, very funny. I laughed out loud so many times throughout the movie.

So it's a lot of fun to watch - Mr. T's character steals the screen every single time he speaks - but it's full of utter over-the-top ridiculousness. But in a very PG way, which is refreshing.

T&T really liked this movie; for me, it was just entertainment. I liked Ponyo better. But I'd recommend watching this for the laughs, regardless - it's not an amazing story or movie by any critical standard, but it is damn funny.

Alice in Wonderland: We watched this in IMAX 3D which, I think, made the movie that much more enjoyable. Without those extra effects, I'd probably be even iffier on the movie than I am. To briefly sum up the movie, it is very quintessential Tim Burton - a little psychedelic, walking the edge of dark and crazy with an endearing edge. Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham-Carter are great, doing their best at their best typecast roles. It'd be impossible not to recognize their style. They were excellent and fully immersed in their respective characters. Alan Rickman was delicious - or at least his voice, was.

Somewhat surprisingly, I really enjoyed Anne Hathaway's White Queen - she had a fun, human edge of exasperation to her ethereal, good, fairy-princess role. Whoever wrote that in, I approve of it. I connected with (and liked) her character far better than I did with Alice, whose lines came off a bit rote and recited and the emotion behind the words somewhat lacking.

Story-wise, I did like the fact that it was a sequel of sorts to the original Alice, but there were a lot of tropes that I felt could have been better handled: They came off a little too trite and, rather than transforming the cliché, the movie seemed burdened by them.

But, oh, the costuming and the sets were gorgeous. Oh art. Such lovely visuals made up a lot for the lack of deft storytelling (I kept thinking it would have been better off as a book, but that is always assuming that the author of a book is also writing with a deft touch - something that is not always guaranteed in today's mass publishing...).

I'd still recommend watching it, but in IMAX or 3D or both, if possible. The visual effects are necessary to really enjoy this movie. Plus, Cheshire. Now that's an unforgettable smile.



One day I will actually find the time to sit down and meta on other facets of life. This blogging thing, I am growing more and more abysmal at it...

2009 Men's NCAA Tournament

Bitches! National champions!

Fuck yeah.