Recent Purchases Part 2

Like I said I would, here's the next part of my recent purchases~ Well I know I should've done this earlier now that I've actually bought more things recently...but I'll just talk about the ones I haven't talked about in other posts yet. Enjoy~

-olive colored bdg oxford boyfriend shirt from urban outfitters-
the shirt looks better when i tuck it in
but i did not realize that at the time i took this photo haha

-lilac nail polish, 3 pairs of pastel colored socks both from urban outfitters-
i finally got around to buying a nail polish \o/ i've tried it on before,
and the unfortunate thing about it is that it doesn't really look lilac :<
and the socks are really cute but...maybe because they're a little too small for my feet,
they keep slipping off whenever i walk around - at least, hte beige colored one does.
the pink one is fine \o/ haven't tried on the green one yet

-blue chambray and jersey dress from urban outfitters-
(should be obvious by now that my fav clothing shop is urban outfitters haha)
i haven't tried this on yet, so i'm using the pic from the site
i'm a little worried because when i first got it it looked a little too big
i'm hoping it doesn't look bulky once i try it on though

And other stuff I've purchased that still haven't arrived in the mail yet, but should be coming soon (Ｔ▽Ｔ)

stardust wink vol. 10

infinite's 4th mini album - "new challenge"
praying for it to have a dong woo photocard + to be limited ed - a.k.a. include a polaroid photo

And stuff that I just ordered today:

-(16cm) wooly the sheep plush - white from rosy's garden on storeenvy-
i'm a sucker for cute japanese plush toys and
as soon as i saw this, i couldn't help but buy one...
it's so cute ok ;__;

-(14 cm) kaomoji nyanko knit collection plush - the pink one from ufo catcher addict on storeenvy-
it's fucking adorable, enough said.

And that's pretty much it for my recent purchases~ There are some others I bought that I left out here, but that's because I mentioned them in other posts - the one about my spring break, and the one consisting of me spazzing over a manga. So if you're curious about my other purchases, please go check those two posts out~  (*´・ｖ・)

Anime Review: Hyouka

I've been putting this review off for a while...and now I finally feel like writing it. Here's what I have to say about Hyouka in general~

I thought the anime was very interesting - it took a bit of willpower to continue watching in the beginning, but I then quickly got hooked to the anime and was left wishing for more. To basically summarize the storyline, it's about this boy named Houtaro Oreki whose motto in life is to save energy as much as possible, meaning that he will only do things if it is deemed important. Due to his older sister's request, he ends up joining the Classics Club as soon as he enters high school to save it from being terminated due to a lack of members. In the club meeting room, he ends up meeting a girl named Eru Chitanda...and yeah everything starts from there. The other two characters are Satoshi Fukube and Mayaka Ibara.

When I read the summary of the anime, my initial thoughts were that this involved some supernatural stuff, but turns out I was quite wrong. It's rather interesting how thanks to Chitanda's inability to hold in her curiosity ("Watashi...kininarimasu!"), the group ends up trying to solve small mysteries around the school or some random mysteries outside. I really appreciated how the writers showed us exactly how Oreki and the others came to their conclusions in each of the mysteries they were involved in - because it made me feel like I was there thinking with them. Which doubled the fun of watching the anime for me, so that was awesome. So the anime might be boring as it's mostly the four of them thinking through all the clues given and all...but I like knowing every single detail of how someone came to a conclusion (especially when I'm trying to understand how to solve a certain math or physics problem...hah).

The only really disappointing thing about the plot was that there was no certain conclusion made in the last episode. Like everyone else, I wasn't particularly impressed that they left the romance hanging - sure, we know who's going to be with who, but we were never shown that they actually got together. But then again, I don't really mind that the romance wasn't resolved, because if you observe each of the characters carefully - it's quite obvious that the romance here isn't something that can be easily resolved in 22 episodes. I mean, none of the characters are quite so outgoing and honest with their feelings - well Mayuka is the only person who is. Everyone else is either in denial or oblivious to their own feelings. So that's why it would be nice if there was a season 2 for this anime, haha. I guess the writers are leaving it up to us to interpret the last episode...although I have absolutely no idea how to interpret it. I just ended up finishing that episode confused, because I didn't know how to conclude the anime. Maybe because I'm dumb. Oh well.

Oh, another disappointing thing about the plot was that...well it was really engaging and exciting until the it suddenly shot down for the last few episodes. I had trouble finishing the last few episodes because it just...suddenly got boring. Yes, it isn't possible for exciting things to happen all the time in daily life, but the last few eps were really dull. 

oreki, uninterested as usual.

Now onto talking about the characters. I appreciate how the writers showed us each of the characters' different sides to us - we first get to know what each of the characters are like at the surface, and then as the anime progresses, we get to know their dark sides - their insecurities and such. What I found interesting here was that Oreki seemed like the only person with no insecurities whatsoever - probably because he's the only one out of them who has accepted himself for who he is. My favorite character was Oreki, because I for some reason really like guys who don't talk much. But then again, I also admired him because he didn't seem like he cared about whether he had friends or was making the best out of life (because I personally am mostly going back and forth - I either care too much or don't care at all about not being as social as others around me may be.). He just does whatever he wants to do - until Chitanda came along, haha.

I first found Chitanda a little annoying; I wondered where she got the confidence to continuously push Oreki - someone she barely knows - into solving all these mysteries just for the sake of resolving her curiosity. And how can you get so curious about every little thing that strikes you as weird? Or interesting? So I guess that also explains why Oreki is my favorite character - he was someone I could sort of relate to, as he didn't really care to find out more about something he was only a little bit interested in (hell, he didn't even seem like he was interested in anything in the beginning hah). Later on, it was pretty interesting how we got to get a glimpse of what kind of responsibilities Chitanda has at home, and how that sort of let us see a dark side of her. Sure, she doesn't complain about having to do them, but it's obvious that she doesn't really feel enthusiastic about them either. When she talked about her family and the traditions surrounding them, I got an impression that her family was holding her down, like she was in some sort of prison. That made me feel sorry for her. Chitanda is sort of a mysterious character in that way - she seems happy and optimistic most of the time, but she does have insecurities and circumstances that hold her down - and she doesn't show her negative side explicitly either. When the anime ended, I was left wanting to know more about Chitanda - we really only got to know what she is like at the surface, and was only shown a glimpse of her dark side. And in that sense, she is a mysterious character.

Sadly, I don't have much to say about Mayuka - I like that she's nice and straightforward with her feelings for Satoshi...and that's pretty much it. She wasn't a very engaging character, in my opinion.

Satoshi, on the otherhand - I thought he was a very interesting character, alongside Chitanda. How he talks about his bad points so casually, yet with a dark tone - and how he lets loose his dark side sometimes despite his efforts to hide it with his carefree attitude. I think Satoshi is the most unrelatable character out of all four of the main characters in this anime - most likely because he puts in an incredible effort to hide the points about him he doesn't like. Like with Chitanda, we only got a glimpse of his dark side - his jealousy of Oreki, his insecurities of his abilities, his fear of becoming obsessed with something, etc. Or is that more than a glimpse? Haha.

But I guess I did feel like Satoshi was a relatable character at that one time he explained the reason why he wouldn't accept Mayuka's feelings. As Oreki said, Satoshi used to get incredibly mad whenever he lost to him at a game back in middle school, but now he doesn't really care about winning or losing anymore. According to Satoshi, it's because he realized how scary it was to be that obsessed with something - which is why he won't accept Mayuka's feelings, despite the fact that he likes her back. He's scared of becoming obsessed with her. Although I'm not as extreme as Satoshi, I do relate to him in that I try not to be too attached to anything, particularly a person. Despite the fact that I really like and care about my family and friends, I try not to depend on them too much, or show how much I like them - because I'm scared that I might scare them away. I find it easier to put on a carefree attitude like Satoshi does (although I don't give off a "I'm enthusiastic 24/7!" aura like Satoshi does haha) - it's sort of a brainwash in a way - so that I won't be disappointed when someone I care about lets me down.



Okay, I think that's pretty much it for what I have to say about Hyouka. Overall, it's definitely an anime worth watching - although I didn't obsess over it as I have done with some other animes in the past, I constantly find myself thinking back to how much fun it was to watch Hyouka. Plus, the artwork is awesome - which doubled the fun for me. And I had fun sort of fangirling over the cute moments between Oreki and Chitanda. Shame we didn't get to see much of those moments between Mayuka and Satoshi. Alright, bye for now~

Note: I don't take credit for any of the screenshots and such in this post

Spring Break~

After a horrendous week of no sleep, cramming, and failing finals - my spring break finally came. It was nice that the stressful winter quarter was over, but I felt like I didn't deserve my break...considering all the horrible grades I've been getting lately. But then again, this quarter was so bad - I had on and off depression which pretty much got rid of my motivation to do well in college, and it also made it even more difficult for me to hang out with friends and get to know other people. Sorry for all the depressing stuff - I'll go on and talk about how my spring break was~ ( ´ ▽ ` )


I spent my spring break at my aunt's house in San Jose. The first few days were pretty uneventful as I didn't have anyone around my age to hang out with haha - my cousin who's a year older than me still had finals at her uni, so I pretty much just ate homemade Korean food and went on the Internet.

some sweet pancakes my aunt made me \o/
by the time i had it, it was cold but it was still good hehe

this picture somewhat summarizes my spring break haha

i swear infinite really just...is so special to me my god

they can make my day any day

sigh i'm just so happy that they're finally back ;__;

i really wanted to cry and scream over their mv when it came out but i couldn't cuz

1) i wasn't alone in the room, 2) quiet hours bc finals week

it's been quite a while since i had kimbab
ahh it was so good

my aunt is awesome because despite her being busy with church,
she always prepared lunch for me \o/ thank you so much~
curry + kimchi = om nom nom

And my cousin finally came back after she finished her finals~ So I finally started getting out of the house the next day. The first day I went out with my aunt and my cousin, we went to a Korean supermarket and bought all the Korean and Japanese snacks I wanted \o/ 

some of the stuff i bought

a bottle of milk coffee (what an awkward name) + rainbow ricecakes (loved them ever since i was a kid)
i had them as soon as we got back home~it was really good ^___^

And I don't really remember whether it was on the same day or the following day, but my cousin sort of...encouraged me to join her and her friends? Haha. So I got to meet some of my cousin's close friends and hang out with them~. They were all really nice, so I was glad that my cousin pushed me to join her. Thank you, cousin~ \o/ 

The following day, we went shopping at a nearby shopping mall. I only managed to buy a eye pencil from Urban Decay and a cardigan from Forever 21, because everyone else seemed tired, and I didn't want to push them into shopping for too long just because of me. I ended up having my aunt buy me those two items (although I insisted that I should buy them myself T^T ugh my aunt is too good to me). Then on the way home, we stopped by Daiso, and I bought a can of black tea and milk tea...which I didn't get to drink because they leaked and made my suitcase wet on the flight back to LA...ugh.

peach iced milk tea with pearls - basically peach flavored bubble tea
my cousin treated me~

Then I found more Japanese snacks I wanted, so I hurriedly picked them and bought them with my own money \o/ I could've asked my aunt to pay them for me according to her, but I didn't want to do that :/ She had already bought so much stuff for me so...hah

And on Thursday, my uncle got a day off, and drove my aunt, my cousin, and I to San Francisco! We mainly spent the day in Union Square. The bad thing was that we departed without having eaten a proper meal, so I was dying of lack of sleep and hunger the entire morning. Plus, I didn't have any coffee in the morning, so it made everything worse. So while we were in the restaurant for lunch, I was pretty much down the entire time while my cousin was happily talking to her parents...ahh I hope I didn't come off as rude or something...*sigh* The things that happen when I don't get to drink coffee...

while i was flipping through the menu for alcohol out of boredom,
i came across this photo and found it funny
so i took a pic of it
i felt self-conscious as i was taking it...
cuz i don't think anyone there at the table knew i like drinking beer hah

after a loooong time of waiting for food, it finally came~
it's called the J Burger
i didn't really like it because it was too greasy :/
and whenever i had a bite of it the sauce would drip on my fingers and on the plate and..
damn what a mess

  After we finished our lunch, we had some coffee from Starbucks because hell, everyone needed coffee. Then we proceeded to go shopping! I went to UNIQLO, H&M, and Urban Outfitters - I could've gone to a lot more shops, but I ended up spending too much time in H&M...haha Here are the clothes I bought that day:

the b&w striped jeans i was looking for was in H&M~
i had no idea then how to wear the jeans with other pieces of clothing,
but it was really pretty ;__; and it was cheap too!
and i didn't know where else i would be able to find one in stores other than online...
so i just bought it haha \o/ so happy~

blue shirt with black collar from uniqlo
it was really pretty plus i needed a shirt like this to prepare myself for summer

dark blue jeans from urban outfitters
i don't have a lot of blue jeans, so it was a good thing i found a nice pair at urban outfitters
it's really comfortable and pretty too omg they're perfect
i didn't end up buying it at the store though because i was in a hurry
and i thought i should put more thought into buying it later
so i ended up buying it online

 and a random photo

sigh the flowers are so pretty

Then we all met up again to go eat ice cream at some sort of a "one-of-a-kind" store. I was sort of feeling carsick by then, and I don't really like ice cream either, so I decided against having one. 

just sitting at one of the tables while waiting for others to finish up their ice creams~

polaroid photo taken with my cousin
i wish i could smile better but
i have a complex with my face which is
whenever i smile my face grows 10x the original size (which is already big) so
i end up not showing teeth in pics
sorry cousin m(_ _)m sigh

 By the time we got back home, we were all pretty tired by then, so we just ended up having a simple dinner which was ramen with eggs and ricecakes~

The next day, I didn't do much except to join my cousin and her friends again when they came over. I wanted to watch something scary because I suddenly felt like not sleeping that night, but the majority vote was no to horror movies. Aww. So we ended up watching a really old film from the 80's, called "Pretty in Pink". It was actually a good movie ^___^ although I didn't like how abrupt the ending was. 

My cousin had to go back to school the next day, so I went with my uncle and aunt to take her back. It took about 2 hours to get there, and unfortunately, that day was also pretty bad in the morning because I didn't get to have coffee or a proper meal beforehand. When we arrived at the neighborhood, we decided to have Chinese food for lunch. I didn't really like it because it was greasy. American Chinese food *sigh* Then, we went to the supermarket because my cousin wanted to buy some food, and I got a drink from Starbucks. We then took my cousin to the apartment she was living in. I got to look around - I didn't really like it because it looked a little...empty. I think it would look nicer if they had decorated the walls and all.

the neighborhood my cousin lives in
apparently only students from her uni live here
i liked the neighborhood because it was very peaceful

 Then everyone said their farewells, and we returned home. And then it was my turn to go back to campus the next day. 

my last meal at my aunt's house before leaving for LA

  The entire trip back to campus took a total of 5 hours...ugh. I was pretty tired and hungry by the time I got back to the dorms. Maybe it was a bad choice to return on the day before the beginning of a new quarter...hmm. I don't know. Anyway, I had a pretty relaxing spring break, which I definitely needed, so I'm happy. And I guess it's now time for me to go back to studying again until mid-June, when I finally get to go back home in Korea~ \o/ I can't wait!

Hiyokoi Vol. 9 Spazz

So I recently got my hands on a copy of the 9th volume of Hiyokoi~ ヽ(*≧ω≦)ﾉ Online shopping really does come in handy! The only bad thing was that when I was still in Hong Kong, I could buy manga in the Japanese bookstores there and they sold it at a price nearly 4 times cheaper than the cost I had to pay online *cries* Well to be honest, the difference is mostly due to the shipping costs...ahh all the inconveniences of living in the US.

I guess I won't say too much about what happens, because I don't think the translators are up to date yet, and this post is mainly for me to spazz about it so...I'll just talk about it generally:

• I'm slowly starting to get sick of Hiyori being so embarrassed over everything...but then again she's new at this boyfriend-girlfriend thing so I don't blame her. But I feel like it's gonna take like 10 more volumes to see Hiyori finally being comfortable being all lovey dovey with Yuushin. It's really always Yuushin the one holding back and having to be considerate of Hiyori and all...I feel sorry for the guy.
• Hiyori with her hair up into a ponytail. I LIKE. YES, PLEASE DO PRACTICE AND HAVE YOUR HAIR UP IN A PONYTAIL MORE OFTEN. YOU LOOK SO MATURE AND PRETTY I LIKE IT.
• And HIYORI OAJFSODSAIFJA;DOSFS THERE'S A LIMIT TO HOW OBLIVIOUS YOU CAN BE ARGH
• When can we see more cute moments between Ricchan and Kou-kun; I ship them so hard oh my god

And speaking of Kou-kun OH MY GOD KOU-KUN IN THIS VOLUME IS JUST PURE FUCKING GOLD. HE'S SO ADORABLE OH MY GOD I CAN'T CONTAIN MY FEELS FOR HIM SO I'M SHARING PICS OF HIM, HERE YOU GO:

I could explain what's happening in each of the pics, but I'm not sure if anyone wants spoilers..

kou-kun looking sad
screw you hiyori how dare you

*SCREAMING*
OH MY GOD

he looks like a little kid here omg
and ricchan yes she looks so pretty with that hairstyle

ahh yes i like this sort of angst or confusion or aosdifjasd

T^T

Annnnd that's pretty much it for the spazz on this volume. According to the last page in the manga, volume 10 is set to be published this spring~\o/ I can't wait!

If anyone actually wants me to summarize what happens in this volume, please do ask me in the comments section~(｀・ω・´)” I would be glad to do it!

Anime Recommendation: Tamako Market

So recently I've been into watching animes again, and after seeing all the gifs on my dash on Tumblr, I decided to give Tamako Market a try. And I am so glad I did.

To summarize this briefly, it's basically about a girl named Tamako (the one in the middle in the pic) whose family runs a mochi store, and she - not very surprisingly - loves mochi. Her life takes a interesting turn when she comes across a bird called Dera MochiMazzi (that's the romanization according to Wikipedia) - he's apparently from a royal family that lives on a what looks like a tropical island; he's on a mission to look for the prince's bride.

dera-chan~
the character who plays a huge role of including the comedy aspect in this anime
he's so funny omfg

The anime overall is absolutely adorable. All the characters are so warm-hearted and cute, the art is so visually pleasing to look at, all the characters have good relationships with one another, and the fact that the storyline is on the relatively loose side makes the anime comforting. It's pretty much the perfect anime to watch when your life sucks and you're in need of some cuteness in your life.

All the characters in the anime are likeable, but I must say my favorite one is Tamako. She's cute, thoughtful, and friendly. I especially like how she's not one bit hesitant on becoming friends with strangers or ones she does not know very well. Take for example how she treated Shiori really well and the two became good friends in the end (◡‿◡✿) and that is why episode 3 is one of my fave eps out of the anime (spoiler alert? haha).

mochizou is a cutie and i wish a cutiepie like him existed in real life

And like most of the people watching this anime, I ship Mochizou and Tamako~ I wish we got to see more moments of the two together though. (I heard that episode 12 might be the last for Tamako Market, and if we do not see some extremely cute moment between the two then I swear my life will suck even more than it already does and I don't know omg I'm gonna cry I really hope the anime doesn't end at 12 eps really no)



Yep as you can see...I have a lot of feels for this anime. So if you're looking for some heartwarming and cute stuff to brighten up your life, and you like animes, then this is the anime I recommend to you~\o/

Note: I don't take credits for any of the screenshots here

Food + Recent Purchases Part 1

It's been a while since I've written a post about my recent om nom nom experiences and purchases...so I felt like sharing photos of them. Enjoy~ (*・ω・)

FOOD

Kalbi (Korean BBQ Ribs) Bowl & Kimchi ＼（Ｔ∇Ｔ）／
I just recently found out that there's another Korean restaurant in the neighborhood,
so I went there with my friend and had this^.
It was so delicious that I had it again later twice
I'm gonna try some other foods the restaurant offers the next time I go there~

Finally found the place on campus where everyone was getting their bobas from~
It wasn't that good, but it wasn't too bad either.
I guess it's worth going there again to try out some other bobas the place offers.

After hearing from my friend about there being Yoshinoya on campus,
I went there to check it out.
I got the Teriyaki Chicken bowl as pictured above,
it was alright...I guess I could go to Yoshinoya again try some other stuff they have
but from the menu it looked like they didn't have a lot of variety of food
The place also had Subway and other choices of food as well.
I've been recently going there often for Subway

Red velvet cupcake from one of the dining halls \o/
it's good but I can never finish it because it's too big lol

I finally got myself a new kettle,
so it was finally time to try one of the Korean instant foods my mom had sent me a while ago
The one pictured here is called jja jang bokkie
It sadly wasn't very good (T＿T)
it might've been because I poured both soup packs in at first or something
I'm gonna try and see if I can make it better

I also tried out this Korean special one of the dining halls offer~
It's noodles with bulgogi (beef) and kimchi~
it's so good T^T this is now what I look forward to on Mondays

Recent Purchases Part 1
*Part 1 because I have other things I've bought but they haven't arrived in the mail yet...I'll update as soon as I receive the rest  ( ´ ▽ ` )

-blue beanie from urban outfitters, lensless glasses from ulzzangglasses-
(I'm sorry if you were taken back from this sudden close up pic of me hah)
Sadly since it's not that cold here right now,
I haven't had the chance to wear the beanie often.
I'm really loving the glasses - they're sometimes a good substitute for days I'm too busy to put on eyeliner
and sometimes they make my face look smaller  ( ´ ▽ ` ) hehe

-cat face print white thick pullover from romwe,
black leather skirt from urban outfitters,
black tights from american apparel-
I got the pullover in December, but I only wore it for the first time like..last month.
And the skirt - ahh I'm totally loving the skirt >__<
I'm still in the process of trying to find tops that go well with the skirt
I can't wear it too often because most of the time I'm riding my scooter like a madman around campus and...yup skirts won't work when I'm busy like that
Prob because I hardly wear tights, but I don't feel very comfortable in them -
I only bought them because it was rather chilly at the time I bought the skirt, so I had to buy something to warm up my legs

-boots from choies-
ahh these boots were super expensive but they were totally worth it.
I am really in love with them right now~  ( ´ ▽ ` )
I got pretty sick of only wearing flats and sneakers around campus,
and these boots are a perfect pair to substitute them
they're very flexible; they're pretty comfortable and easy to walk around in
although I'm not too sure whether they will survive my scooter rides...
so I'll prob. still be wearing flats and sneakers most of the time hah
*fun fact: lol my english prof said these boots were cool lol

Annnnd that's it for now  ( ´ ▽ ` ) I'll update again once the rest of my purchases come in the mail~

Concluding this post with a nicer selca because I can:

my attempt at smiling