In the midst of my studying, I decided to have some tea to keep me awake.  I didn’t know if tea would actually keep me awake or not, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.   I had a choice between the jasmine tea I brought from home, or the green tea that Tony picked up from the supermarket.  I usually find myself not liking the idea of hot green tea, and I don’t really know why; sometimes I prefer it and sometimes I don’t.  However, this time it was the former, and I brewed myself a cup.

There was nothing special about it, it sort of tasted different from what I imagined green tea to taste like. The smell still grosses me out and reminds me of manure. Not sure if it was because it was organic or because it just sucked…

Then a thought crossed my mind.  A memory, actually.  It was about 2-3 weeks ago I had lunch at a Japanese restaurant and ordered cold green tea as a beverage.  To my surprise, the server brought me a glass and a can of green tea.  I felt a little disappointed that it wasn’t made with leaves.  But once I took a sip of it, I found myself delighted at the cool refreshing flavor.  I had to pour my tea in steady increments in the glass and pace myself, otherwise I would have drank it all before my food even arrived.
It was probably the best green tea I’ve ever had so far.

I took note of the can and saved the brand of the tea on my phone.  It wasn’t until I was drinking tea just now that I remembered that I had it saved.
So I searched the internet to find somewhere that may allow me to purchase the beverage in bulk, but after an hour, no such luck.   UCC Green Tea, why must you elude me…

Then while searching, I am reminded of yet another memory!  I believe this one took place in 2004? 2005 maybe?  I was at Japan Expo with my friends Tony and Michelle, and I remember there being many exhibits that promoted BARLEY DRINKS, in Japanese known as Mugicha.  I remember walking around, trying many samples because it was one of the most refreshing things I ever tasted in my life!  It was served cold, and I forget the taste now, but I remember feeling like my body was cleansed and my mind alert afterwards.   How could I have forgotten about something so terribly awesome!

Now I have actually found some barley tea products; I will buy one for myself as well as one for my mom to see if she likes it. =]  I guess I have to give this hot green tea a little more credit, even if it does smell like poop and taste a little funny..

Are you a 90’s kid? Do you remember this?

So, while I was listening to some Aaliyah and older Destiny’s Child song, I remembered how awesome the 90s really were!   I came across this survey and was surprised at how accurate it was and how much it applied to me. The things I remember are bolded.

if you the age 12 OR UNDER…you should not read this

and if you do, you should not repost this.

Just because you were born in ‘96 doesn’t mean you’re a 90’s kid.

It’s not like you could remember the original Simpsons. I am sorry but four conscious years of the 90’s just wont cut it.

You’re a 90’s kid if:

You can finish this [ice ice _ _ _ _ ]

You remember watching:
-Doug
-Ren & Stimpy
-Pinky and the Brain
-AAAAAAAH Real Monsters!
-Rockos modern Life.

You’ve ever ended a sentence with the word “PSYCHE!”

You just cant resist finishing this . . . “Iiiiiiin west philidelphia born and raised . . .”

You remember:
-TGIF
-Step by Step
-Family Matters
-Dinosaurs
-Boy Meets World
-Sabrina The Teenage Witch

You remember when it was actually worth getting up early
on a Saturday to watch cartoons.

You got super excited when it was Oregon Trail day in computer class at school. (yesss!)

You remember reading “Goosebumps”

You took plastic cartoon lunch boxes to school.

You still get the urge to say “NOT” after (almost) every sentence . . . not

when everything was settled by:
-rock paper scissors or
-bubble gum bubble gum in a dish or
-inky pinky ponky daddy had a donkey
- ennie meanie miney moe.

when cops and robbers was a daily activity.

when we played Hide and go seek until our legs grew numb.

when we used to obey our parents

You used to listen to the radio all day long just to record your FAVORITE song of ALL time.  (RADIO DISNEY!)

“Where in the World is Carmen San Diego?” was both a game and a TV game show.

Captain Planet. He’s a Hero.

You knew that Kimberly, the pink ranger, and Tommy, the green ranger, were meant to be together. ♥

You remember when Super Nintendos and Sega Genisis became popular.

You always wanted to send in a tape to America’s Funniest Home Videos . . . but never taped anything funny.

You remember watching Home Alone 1, 2 , and 3 . . . and tried to pull the pranks on “intruders”

You remember watching:
-The Magic School Bus
-Wishbone
-Reading Rainbow on PBS.

You remember when Yo-Yos were cool.

You remember those Where’s Waldo books.

You remember eating Warheads.

You remember watching:
-the 1st Batman
-Aladdin
-Ninja Turtles
-3 Ninjas movies.

You remember Ring Pops.

You remember drinking Surge, and Tang. (surge was strange..the commercials even weirder)

If you remember when every thing was “da BOMB!”

When they made the new lunchables so that you could make pizza AND tacos.

You remember boom boxes vs. cd players.

Making those little paper fortune cookie things, and then predicting your life with them.

You played and/or collected “Pogs” :)

You had at least one Tamagotchi, GigaPet, or Nano and brought it everywhere.

. . . Furbies.

You haven’t always had a computer, and it was cool to have the internet.

And Windows 95 was the best.

You watched the original cartoons of Rugrats, Power Rangers, and Ninja Turtles.

Michael Jordan was a king. (I remember watching his comeback ceremony)

YIKES pencils and erasers were the stuff!

All your school supplies were “Lisa Frank” brand. (ohh the colors!)

You remember when the new Beanie Babies and Talking Elmo were always sold out

You collected those Beanie Babies. (Hell no)

Carebears

Gak was the coolest stuff invented.  (Gak was awesome!)

Lambchop’s song never ended.

The old dollar bills.

Silver dollars, which were cool to have.

You remember a time before the WB.

You collected all the Troll dolls

If you even know what an original walkman is.

You remember wanting to sit on the orange Nickelodeon couch.

You’ve gotten creeped out by “Are You Afraid of the Dark?”

You know the Macarena by heart.

“Talk to the hand” . . . enough said

You always said, “Then why don’t you marry it!”

You went to McDonald’s to play in the playplace.

You remember playing on merry go rounds at the playground.

Before the MySpace frenzy . . .

Before the Internet & text messaging . . .

Before Sidekicks & iPods . . .

Before MIKE JONES . . .

Before PlayStation2 or X-BOX . . .

Before Spongebob . . .

Back when you put off the 5 hours of homework you had every night.

When light up sneakers were cool.

When you rented VHS tapes, not DVDs.

When gas was $0.95 a gallon & Caller ID was a new thing.

When we recorded
stuff on VCRs.

When we called the radio station to request songs to hear off of our walkman.

When checking out drawing books and that one book about the rainbow fish from the library was THE cool thing to do.

You had slap bracelets!

Way back.

Before we realized all this would eventually disappear.

Who would have thought you’d miss the 90’s so much!!!!!

Sigh technology has taken everything over now…

*sigh* It’s going to be a busy nine months..

I have to blog because… I haven’t blogged for like, a month!  School is distracting, so is love and family.. I almost forgot about this place!

What is new, what is new…nothing really.  My Japanese is improving, as well as my health, and cooking!…

Oh yes the biggest news to report is that…HOMER VISITED ME!  Yay that was the best days in Santa Cruz.  Of course we spent most of the days sitting at our computers playing games but that’s okay…

He got me lots of gifts from Japan as well!  My favorite is this Harajuku lolita maid outfit dress thing.  I’ve got to lose some weight before I can fit into it nicely and wear it in time for Fanime/Anime Expo.

ITS THE COOLEST GIFT EVER!  <3

Yeah maybe I’ll have something more interesting to say some other time, hoho.

I am having a pleasant day..

Up late into the night, I did a little more research to find out what my moon and rising signs were…

and I did….

I was surprised at how accurate it was…it helped me to understand myself a lot better…

…I think I will be less confused from now on. =]

I found Homer’s too…he is such a complex person…but I feel like I’m getting somewhere with this…

I’m a girl who likes surprises.

Then again, what girl doesn’t?

Yet I am surprised at how much Homer surprises me… He doesn’t do these things on purpose, rather I sort of realize the little things he does now and then that seem to be out of his character.

Such as….proclaiming his love for me to the public!! *gasp* And he does so with this Myspace profile picture…

…in which the caption says, “for her”. Well, it may not be easily figured out by others who “her” may be, and I’m not sure anyone can tell who his girlfriend is just by looking at his profile, but I know it’s for me. You can’t imagine the giddiness I felt when I saw it. I suppose to most people it shouldn’t be a big deal… but coming from him, the way he is so aloof when it comes to his affection for me in front of others… It made me feel loved 100x more.

I guess it’s a good thing, and it’s not like he has to prove to others how much he loves me. I know he does, and to him I should be the only one who knows that. Constantly being bombarded by “I love you” or things in his info or profiles may come off as unnecessary to the one that isn’t his significant other, as well as getting too trite and old for the one that is his significant other.

Another surprise is…when he told me he wanted to go up with me to Santa Cruz!! Gosh I wasn’t able to sleep for a whole night, just imagining him being here… I had suggested the idea to him numerous times before, but the possibility of it actually happening…I wasn’t actually prepared for that.  I was in mild state of shock, heheh.
There wouldn’t be much we could do, besides eat and watch movies, and play video games. I don’t care though, as long as we’re together, I’ll be more than happy! I think this is what he wanted me to understand when I was around him at home… just to enjoy each other’s company…

I like these surprises. This song by the lovely Sophie Ellis Bextor sums it all up quite nicely..

Never give the game away
Try to keep me entertained baby
Don’t make it too easy
Leave something
For me and my imagination

I was walking along a pier, a very very long pier, with Ziggy and my brother. All of a sudden people scream and say there are sharks in the water. Ziggy runs around because of all the excitement and eventually runs off the pier!! I panick and look at the distance from the water to the shore, and I was worrying about whether or not Ziggy could swim…he seemed to be okay, very happy paddling along. I saw the tips of the shark fins near him and I was so nervous. My brother was also freaking out and in a rush to save him, jumped off as well. -_-So I’m running as they’re swimming, running and watching when all of a sudden, something clamps hard onto my shoe. The pain was horrible, and I looked down to see a flat grey fish with sharp teeth permanently bitten down on my shoe, as well as my foot. I tried to ignore the pain and kept running, kept running…

Somehow my brother and Ziggy made it out okay, then I showed my brother my foot. He handed me a small knife and with ease, I sliced the fish in half lengthwise from the mouth and the top part came off. The bottom however, I struggled to pull off, because his sharp teeth were visibly sunk into the bottom of my feet. I managed to pry it off and threw the carcass in the water, and wrapped my foot with a cloth that magically appeared nearby.

Later on we lunch on a restaurant deck connected to the pier, and I was there with my brother, aunt and uncle. It was almost closing time, so the server asked if we would like anything else. I perused the menu and I put so much thought into what I wanted, I grabbed the menu my uncle was looking at and saw a beautiful array of alcoholic drinks. I remembered I was old enough to get alcohol and smiled a big embarrassed smile. However, I asked the man if he had any cookies for dessert, and he did. It was sort of an awkward conversation as he said to me, “yes we have hamburger…” And I said, “Oh no, I wanted cookies.” He replied, “Yes I was explaining that they were made like hamburgers…” So i thought to myself,” A cookie sandwich?” I nodded and he went off with my order. It was almost dawn and my family leaves, I was still waiting for my dessert. Some people I recognized from certain points in my life trickle onto the deck, sitting down and enjoying each other’s company. I conversed with one of the girls who I had become good friends with in first grade.

Then somehow, I end up getting into a car with her and her friend, and an ex of mine was driving. They wanted to show me his house which was right down the street, within walking distance to the restaurant we were at. So we’re in the car, and I look out the window and see a modest yet cozy house overlooking the ocean, with a cute lawn, red-orange roof. The house was on the corner, and the layout of the street is kind of hard to describe, but just for myself I can say that it’s very similar to the end of my neighborhood here in SC. It was a very desirable house, certainly anyone living in it would feel lucky to have a guy like that, wealthy and successful, blah blah…

Thinking to myself, I got out of the car and ran back to the restaurant. I was thinking, “This isn’t for me, I want to do my own thing, I want to be independent.” It was a very overwhelming run.

So I get back to where the deck is, I look out at the ocean, and realize my dessert should’ve been ready by now. I go to the counter and see someone standing there with a small suitcase. He turned around to face me. Then a wide grin spread across my face, as well as his, and I forgot all about dessert…

Mmmm then I woke up. :)

Okay, so here is a clip from one of my favorite movies, Sur Mes Levres.  The two main characters in this movie are so fascinating in the way they interact with each other.  The guy is a convict and the girl an overworked secretary looking for some sort of, release I suppose.

The reason why I posted this was because I have been searching for months the second song you hear in the background as they’re talking to each other.  It isn’t listed in the end credits, and I listened for the lyrics but found nothing when I searched them.  So please if you have an idea of what the song is, who the artist is, the lyrics, I would really appreciate it if you let me know!! =]

I wasn’t able to embed subtitles into the clip, so here’s a quick translation of what they’re conversing about:

Carla: Paul, Annie and Boubou
Annie & Boubou: hello Paul

Carla: Want a drink?

Paul: So what is this?
Carla: Boubou’s birthday. the girl i introduced you to.
Paul: The short fat one?
Carla: With the long blond hair.
Paul: What did you tell them?
Carla: That you’re my friend. Do you mind?
Paul: No…what kind of friend?
Carla: I didn’t specify.
Paul: What do we do?
Carla: I don’t know. talk, drink. same as everybody.

Paul: You want to dance?
Carla: I can’t dance.
Paul: I can show you.
Carla: No, not here.
…can you take my hand?

Paul: Do we get to smooch?
Carla: No, this’ll do fine. This’ll do.

Carla: How will you get home?
Paul: Subway.
Carla:  I’m taking a cab. want a ride?
Paul: No need.
Carla: See you tomorrow then.

Ricky took me to Trader Joe’s yesterday – YES! – I was looking forward to getting some more groceries for the house, and experimenting on dishes I’ve been eyeing for some time…
However, Trader Joe’s is a small store, and did not offer a wide variety of fruits or vegetables. No kaffir limes or lemon grass! I guess I should be going to Safeway for those. I also realized Tiramisu was going to be expensive to make, and they didn’t even have ladyfingers -_-. It’s a cheap grocery store though (1.19 for a dozen xtra large eggs!) , so I got the basics.

One of the disadvantages of living with stoners is that food supplies run out fast… and even though I have a little more money to spare than the others, I’m still a poor college student. Though that didn’t stop me from spoiling myself with a bottle of red wine, brie cheese, and a bouqet of purple irises. I can’t wait to see them bloomed.

We get home, and it was starting to sprinkle a little bit so we turned on the heater. I spent some time on the computer, then Ricky comes into my room, visibly soaring and asked what to make for dinner. I like cooking with Ricky, and noticed that every time we cook together, the more he takes control in the kitchen. Before he had me season and time everything because he didn’t know what he was doing, but I notice he has a lot more confidence in his chef abilities. We made an easy chicken enchilada dinner. The sauce that the recipe required us to make mixed salsa with cream cheese (yuck?!), and we also had to add beans to the mixture and it turned out looking like vomit but tasted surprisingly good.

The rest of the night consisted of Ricky and Tony playing high-low, then a Chinese drinking game, and Ricky persuaded us to watch “The McPherson Tape”. It had something to do with a family in Lake County, Colorado and their encounter with alien beings, most of it being taped by the youngest son. Ricky had seen half of it the night before, and it had him creeped out because he thought the tape was for real. After the first few minutes, I pointed out instances where I noticed the dialogue seemed very scripted, and the camera man seemed like a pro because he panned in and out at the right times, and for a beginning filmmaker held the camera very very still during most of the movie. Ricky retorted, “But don’t you think that COULD be for real?”

Tony and I answered blatantly, “NO.”

The end credits roll, and I see it displayed the cast who played Alien 1, Alien 2, Alien 3, Alien 4. I pointed this out to Ricky and I suppose it spoiled his fun because he reacted with disappointment, “Awwww really?!”

It’s okay Ricky, maybe someone else will create a better, creepier, more realistic and less Blair Witchy movie.

This is a story about my last cat, how I came to find her, took her in and loved her, and how she left me in the end for someone else… My heart still aches over it.  I’m writing in it parts just because I imagine a super long blog post would be too boring, as well as the fact that I’m lazy.

That’s her, one of the very few pictures I managed to take before we parted ways.

So it starts, one night as my mom and I were about to head home, I sat in the driver’s seat with the door open, about to close it when I hear a meowing sound. I looked around, asked my mom if she heard it as well. She just told me to close the door because mosquitos were getting inside. I looked above me, on the roof, around the car, and saw nothing. The sound kept on coming though, after a while I thought I was hearing things.
I don’t know how I got to looking across the street, but I did, and I noticed a little kitten in the lot of the old Wal-Mart. The distance from my mom’s restaurant to the Wal-mart is somewhat farther than you would imagine, probably because they both have really big parking lots, so it still amazes me that I managed to spot it in the dark. I left my mom to sit in the car and ran across the street to try and retrieve the little guy. She was getting irritated with me.. but I ignored her. :)

I saw the kitten running around the lot, and it saw me as I was approaching. I thought it would’ve ran off but it just hid in the tall grass and just kept its distance, eyeing me. I tried not to make any sudden moves, and crouched down and tried to get it to come to me. After about ten minutes of unsuccessful coaxing, and talking, meowing, then cursing at the damn thing as well as mosquitoes feasting on my flesh, I gave up and left it alone. I went back across the street to my mom, and told her it was a small kitten all by itself, and it wouldn’t come to me. She laughed at all the mosquito bites I had received.  Disgruntled, I drove home, unknowing that I would see the kitty again soon…