Drumroll please ...

I PASSED SUMMER SESSION! MIRACLE YOU GUYS! Very little effort and very little attendance. Less than a week left before semester 1. I have got to be a better student. Stressing over whether I passed or failed should not be the norm. New semester resolution!

Firstly, I should get up in the AM not PM. Going to RTA tomorrow to book my L's test for March 11. I have no common sense. I really need some time to study this. Buy another external HDD. I still have to go to the beach before summer ends, Museum of Contemporary Art for the Annie Lebowitz exhibition and the Art Gallry of NSW.

Can't believe semester 1 is almost here. >.<

Bathroom cabinet

After dying my hair yesterday I gave the bathroom cabinet and sink area a clean. Look how nice and neat that looks compared to before. Before they were not even in the cabinet they were just all over the counter of the sink. Messy.  Now nothing is on the sink counter except for the soap dispenser. I felt accomplished after cleaning. Should probably clean a room or an area a day. The house is a mess. XD

Garnier Nutrisse: Dark Blonde

$15.28 from Big W. Almond Creme Dark Blonde.

The last time I dyed my hair was August 2010. So my roots were showing and colour was fading. Turning from brown to some odd reddish colour. I was hoping for a lighter brown this time around. I used a blonde dye because that's more likely to get my dark, Asian hair brown than, well, brown. XD

I think the lighting and the setting on my camera may not reflect the actual colour of the hair.

Maybe I should have used 2 bottles instead of 1. In any case, my hair is mostly one colour now. The layers of hair underneath are largely untouched by the dye. Probably due to my application of it through my hair. A bit uneven me thinks. It's darker than before too which I find a little bit odd considering it's dark blonde.  Maybe I chose too light of a shade of blonde? The colour usually goes lighter after a while, so fingers crossed!


I love the after-dye smell of hair. I keep sniffing my hair. XD

[2009] Poporo, Market City

I have a lot of spare time of my hands before uni starts up again so I was browsing through some old photos and decided to post some. These are old. This is from a trip to Poporo in Market City in December of 2009. It's at the top most level of Market City. I think it used to be that you order from a touch screen but currently, that is the last time I went there (sometime last year), you order normally via a waiter/waitress. It's very pretty and clean and somewhat upbeat looking inside which is a plus. There's a discount if you show your student card. From memory, I don't think they let you pay separately. And here are some photos!

Chicken karaage.
I think it was listed on the menu as a side dish but is like a meal in itself.

Squid ink spaghetti. More creamy than squid ink-y.

Some kind of burger. Obviously. XD That's renkon right?

Some sort of katsu set. 

Drinks/dessert

• Find Poporo at Market City, Top Floor, Shop 301, 9-13 Hay Street, Haymarket.

I just spent a large part of my night reading "Dis/Locating Audience: Transnational Media Flows and the Online Circulation of East Asian Television Drama" by Xiaochang Li. (I found the file on my computer. I guess I must have downloaded it looking for academic articles in relation to Asian Pop culture).

At certain parts I was like "I KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS" or "OMG I READ THEM TOO" or "ARASHI!" or "I TOTES DO THAT TOO!" It was really interesting to read about Asian dramas in such an academic light. I really recommend it. Who knew that being a fan was all that? XD

I have a couple of Henry Jenkins' books and particpatory culture in fandom is such a compelling topic since basically I am a fan. I remember stumbling across Henry Jenkins' name on someone's blog post of LJ post. I'm not quite sure which and I'm not quite sure what it was about. Actually, I'm not quite sure at all now. Was I googling him for a specific purpose? Or was I googling something else and he turned up? I really don't remember. Maybe I did an LJ post about it eons ago. Shall check archives. Anyway, my point is, I stumbled across his name and I guess what he was about ... oh, no, wait (oh, wow, this is like some stream of consciousness right here). Maybe I stumbled across his book in Kinokuniya in the media section then I googled him? In any case, I have 2 of his books: "Fans, Bloggers, and Gamers: Media Consumers in a Digital Age" and "Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide". I love that I totally understand what he's talking about.

I would love to see more academic writing on Asian dramas and/or pop culture. I found some journal articles in the area on google scholar but they're a few years old. There's nothing particularly recent. I wish I had the brain to write an academic paper on fandom. Fandom and the internet. Seriously, fandom and the internet is just amazing. What would either of them do without the other? XD

I think not being exposed to Asian dramas would have made me a different person. This is not an exaggeration. I had no desire to learn Japanese or Korean before watching Asian dramas. I didn't have a desire to travel to Japan or South Korea or anywhere in Asia that wasn't the Philippines (because I am Filipino and it's like - well, how could I not go? XD) Before watching Asian dramas I hadn't eaten at any Japanese or Korean restaurants. I didn't really go to Chinatown or Kinokuniya. I know how to navigate parts of the internet better now. I remember when I first became a fan that I was constantly searching for a community to access content or discuss dramas or just get recommendations. I wonder how different it would have been if I didn't have all those things now. I wouldn't have the friends I would now. I met a lot of them in Korean language class at uni.

Actually, thinking about it now and typing it out - wow, seems like I owe Asian dramas a lot. XD

Last Night: Hotplate Steak House

Fighting off post-exam sleep deprivation and general foreboding about results I went to my friend's belated birthday dinner. This dinner was forced upon her. She didn't really want to do something but we overpowered her and she ended up having fun - so, lesson here is say "Yes" to things.

We tried out this Taiwanese Steakhouse place next to the Taiwanese dessert place in Chinatown. You know, the dessert place with the massive line (by the by, dessert place is okay but nothing to wait in line for. Choose a time in the day when the line isn't so long).

There's a set for dinner time and if you buy 2 sets you get $9.95 off the second set. Or something like that. A set is $19.95.

Salad

Garlic baguette

KongFu Onion Soup. (Have a choice between this and corn soup).

Shotglass of sorbet. Strawberry, me thinks.

Main: New York Sirloin Steak. (Have a choice between 4 mains).

Ice-cream (Can choose between ice-cream and a fruit platter).

 Plus, you get a choice of drink either hot black tea, iced black tea and iced green tea.

I got pretty full around the onion soup and baguette time. Dipping the bread in the soup is AMAZING. And of course there was birthday cake that my friend bought for my other friend from 85 Degrees Bakery. Cheesecake. It was amazing but we were so full and trying to eat that wonderful piece of cheesecake was torture! XD

Karaoke afterwards at SM Karaoke (I have no real idea about what it's actually called). Take the stairs next to Madang, which is somewhere off Pitt Street.

Fun night out. Crashed as soon as I got home. Good way to end summer session.

• Find Hotplate Steakhouse at 42 - 48 Dixon Street, Haymarket.

Exam eve

As I sit here on the eve of another exam I regret all the procrastinating I did throughout this summer session. By 12:30pm or 12:40pm (There's reading time so ... XD) tomorrow I'll be officially on holidays until 1st March. What is that ... like 2 weeks?

I only need to pass the exam, or just below pass, to pass the subject. Though, as a law student I should be aiming higher. I didn't attend many of the classes of this subject and I should be majorly cramming right now. I just took at look at some practice questions and I'm a bit overwhelmed.

Think it should be ok. Fingers crossed. And as always, I shall be a better student next semester!

See you on the other side of tomorrow!

Guess what this kitty is saving for?

I've resolved to save money to go to Japan some time this year for about 10 days (uni schedule and money is limiting the amount of time I can go overseas). I plan to go alone if no one wants to go with me. I don't know how my dad will feel about that. I want to go after Easter because I have a week off uni then plus it's around my birthday and I thought "Frak this. I'm going to be 24 and I'm a little bit in limbo at the moment might as well not think about it for a week or so." XD That is my logic. I don't really deserve one. I think it feels better to go on holiday after accomplishing something. When I went to Japan in 2009 it was because I finished my undergraduate degree. When I went to the Philippines last year it was because I finished up my 1st semester of law school relatively unscathed plus I wanted to see my Lolo (grandfather) after a prolonged period of not seeing him. So, to me, it feels a little pointless if I go on holiday (holiday from what?) without accomplishing anything. Some people can just go on holiday because it's a holiday. I feel somewhat guilty. Probably because the money I'm spending is not my own.

So, as I sit in front of the computer procrastinating (I have a commercial law exam soon-ish. I should be stuyding) I decided that I should make start in trying to save up.

I given myself 2 time periods to save up for:

28 April - 8 May or 19 July to 31 July. Flying Jetstar from Sydney return, currently, will cost $1021.97. That number is my goal.

Obviously this doesn't factor in accomodation, JR Rail Pass, food, expenses. But little steps first.

That Hello Kitty money box now has a lock and I WILL NOT REMOVE any money from it. It has around 4 bucks inside it at the moment. Let's hope I don't have a moment of weakness and crack it open to buy booze. XD

February

I've been eating ice block things all day instead of actual food. Actual food is warm and it is much too hot for that.

Summer school is almost over just an exam in  few days which I have no notes for and haven't attended a lot of the seminars for either. I was going to start studying today but it's too HOT. It's supposed to be mid-30's in Sydney for the rest of this week. Me thinks I should esape the heat and travel all the way to uni to study where it's air conditioned. Except, it's all the way in the city. Travelling in this weather is just something I do not want to do.

As for my summer goals:

6. Eat less junk food: I've been pretty good at not doing this. Although, at times I REALLY do crave a burger. I want a good one. I keep seeing good looking burgers on food tumblrs and I almost drool over the keyboard.

Everything else has not happened. Since today is the 1st of the month a new start. To refresh.

I can't study in this heat, you guys. >.<