thejenybug

The Girl from Ipanema

2011-08-09T19:06:00.000-07:00

I haven’t given up on this blog yet. It’s was just a momentary hiatus. Trust me, if I ever stop completely, it must mean I finally pass my crazy youth years.

I wish I could have a backyard, or maybe a roof to climb. I used to do that, and got in trouble for it because I climbed onto my neighbour’s roof instead. Mind you, I got into trouble with my parents. My neighbours knew but they were mellow save the concern for my safety. It was easy-peasy when the garbage bin provided a leeway to the roof, something like the stairway to heaven.

I’m preoccupied with my preoccupations. I need a life-long vacation, a get-away plan. It would be nice to have an old summer courtyard with a fountain. I can have parties with Chinese paper lanterns and candles, make-do tables and we can dance to bossa.

There’s something about bossa that speaks to me: of things so natural and light, of being young and feeling in tune with the world, of being in love and in the rain. If I ever have a child, I’ll name it Astrud after that wonderful person with that wonderful voice.

I’m going away this weekend, and I’m beginning to love this place I’m going to. It’s really not that significant. It’s really just a farm, organic and sort of messy, but I always liked that. It’s like the choice of an English garden over a French garden. It has its charms so it’s not just any farm.

This farm has the most fanciful looking little boy, tousle of red hair, messiest little feet and hands that manage to get him and everything around him even messier. He's so well-behaved and has the sort of mannerisms that would probably impress the Queen of England.

Might I add that old croon is impossible to impress, 59 years of public life and I’ve only seen one expression on her face.

SON OF A BEEP

2011-07-04T11:27:00.000-07:00

This blog has always acted as an outlet for all my very important grievances, and I’m proud to continue that tradition with my latest complaint: my laptop is giving me an ulcer of some zenith degree. It’s not only that it refuses to cooperate with me but it tries to reason with me. Apparently, Saturday is not a good day to open Facebook. If any luck, it will open eventually...after three restarts, two angry shouting matches, and five dollars in bribes. And that’s not guaranteeing it will let me see my notifications, a possibility only if I take it out for dinner. It has developed to the point where I rarely open my laptop, save to charge my iPod Touch (A.K.A. the lesser of the two evils).

Let me be clear: I’m not swearing off my laptop for good or heaven forbid, buy a new one. But something has to change when my dog can take commands better, at least when I tell it to sit, it doesn’t slobber on my shoes and then sputter a tenacious BEEP. And that BEEP defies the bane of my existence. That BEEP alone has given me three migraines and the motivation to sit here five in the morning to type this goddamn post.

However, this shouldn’t even come as a surprise: computers cease to be computers once it enters my house. Every time we buy what salesperson call the Obama of computers, all magnificent in its sleek design, it becomes that “piece of metal junk” by the third week. In two months, it begins to resemble a rescue and recovery operation. In an act of defeat, I even tried to order my computer over the internet from Dell – I know – I deserve it all from naivety alone.

In the past weekends, I’ve tried to type up an article, then I discover my laptop was dyslexic with a smidgen of speech impediment problem. It stutters like a broken cassette, and when prompted with some severe begging, its vents overpowered the noise of the construction going on outside my window.

Staring into the sun

2011-06-03T09:17:00.000-07:00

Summer, summer, summer.

Sometimes, like a superstitious old croon, I’ll mumble these words in the dead of the winter. When summer arrives, I dream about flying with one suitcase and a crumpled Polaroid of home. What a mystery is growing up.

Some thoughts and happenings:

I punctured my tire three weeks in. Honestly, I have the worst luck in the world. For one, I never fail to find myself biking in the rain. I already had my bike stolen, in which I learned that two (or three) locks are a sure sign of common sense. I wish I could say I punctured my tire because I was doing something exciting, but alas, I was rushing to class.

Am I getting old or something? Every time, I go on Youtube and watch a tutorial on something or another. Why is it that I find some pre-pubescent boy with fake-cat-whiskers-for-beard instructing me on how to use Photoshop? Or some high school cheerleader on how to excavate your cheekbones? Just now, I watched an eleventh grade couple give relationship advice. What’s next? Fourteen year old boys singing about love? A whole movie about prom? Arnold Schwarzenegger cheating on Maria Shriver?

I dropped econ! Why? It was severely debilitating my brain. Here’s a play by play of my brain activity during an econ tutorial.

TA: Graph both the supply (S0) and demand (D0) curves in a diagram. What is the current equilibrium price?
Brain: CANNOT PROCESS!
TA: Now assume that President’s Choice introduces a new papaya drink, and this increases the demand for Mexican papaya by 50%. Draw the new demand curve (D1).
Brain: ERROR! GLITCH! DOES NOT COMPUTE!

So that’s why I dropped econ.

Oh and also because:

To the Sharks

2011-05-25T08:25:00.000-07:00

I was coerced into the movie theatre with a whispered promise that “Pirates 4 is better than the last two”, or at least the general word of mouth has it. It’s not exactly a ringing endorsement, seeing the last two instalments of Pirates of the Caribbean gave up completely on plot. Neither did it placate my feeling that I had flush fifteen dollars down the drain, and must now bite the proverbial bullet in 3D.

Admittedly, “The Curse of the Black Pearl” in 2003 found box office booty aplenty, and its sequels continued to rake in more profits. Nevertheless, the people behind it still need to be pushed off the gangplank for producing such, for the lack of better words, rubbish drivel. With more twists and turns than an episode of Lost, the supposed conclusion in “At World’s End” killed more of my brain cells than anything possible in the time span of two hours. And like all good Hollywood drivel, the sequel factory plunders on.

Johnny Depp and crew (with the exception of Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley) have jumped on board for the fourth Pirates titled “On Stranger’s Tide”. Yet there’s nothing ‘strange’ about the tide, if not more familiar each time around: explosive sword-fights, thick pirate-y accent, and well-timed soundtrack cue. In other words, perfect formula for a blockbuster hit, or so you think.

This time around, Jack Sparrow (Depp) is paired with love interest (Penelope Cruz), with her fearsome pirate father Blackbeard (Ian McShane) to search for the fountain of youth. Along for the ride is Barbosa (Geoffrey Rush), Jack’s nemesis, thrust among monarch rivalries between England and Spain in a race with time to find the same fabled fountain.

Depp managed to secure more of the eye liner, scar that never heals, and jewelled braided beard. His well-loved image, and the quasi-hooligan quasi-ruffian attitude that has previously earned him an Oscar nomination, no longer amuses me. On the other hand, his old tricks and antics grow stale as each minute passes by. In all honesty, Depp’s penchants for eccentric roles are as well-known and boring as Jennifer Aniston’s specialist in playing successful career women with zero love life.

With that in mind, certain elements in “On Stranger’s Tide” still won me over (damn those woman hormones). For one, having an equally stud-like man-candy taking the place of Orlando helped. No lesser is the fact that he was made to be shirtless in at least fifteen minutes of the scene. The mermaids were a good touch as well, consolidating the well-known fable of mermaids in the disappearance of pirates.

If after all the warnings, being somewhat of a sadist, you still decide to go watch this movie. Take caution to at least choose the showing in non-3D. For me, 3D novelty wore off a long time ago, the movie industry still remains delusional. In this case, it only worsened the effect of the movie, adding an unnecessarily darker tinge to the otherwise vibrant backdrop of the Caribbean. Don’t pay more for a lesser product.

(I should have just watched Bridemaids, at least I can pretend that I was in a great fun wedding.)

Some Updates

2011-05-16T08:49:00.000-07:00

I’m the sort of persons that forget easily. Sometimes, it’s nice because I get but won’t stay angry. Sometimes, it’s not because I don’t remember why I marked down May 29^th as busy (seriously, I have no clue and maybe next time, I’ll write down a description next to it). So from this forgetfulness, putting everything down on paper seems to make my life more concrete and active.

It also explains why I like to make list. My life revolves around either one or another list of things I’ve jotted down, if it read that I should go to the zoo and dance with a monkey, I wouldn’t have given it a second thought.

So here are some updates on my life, in case I ever wonder what I did in it.

I decided to ride my bike around downtown. That’s what I do, risking my life for a challenge. Actually, I’m a huge wuss and the idea of sharing the roads with cars makes my stomach churn. For safety measures, I decided to stick to bike lanes. And for safety measures, I decided to not wear a helmet. My logic is if I don’t wear a helmet, drivers will be less reluctant to hit me. That seems counter-logical at times, but in any case, I do own a helmet now.

I rode my bike to High Park with friends and saw some cherry blossoms (YAYY, FWENNDS).

I went to the AGO with friends and saw artistic things. Let me elaborate, there was this modern dance on the main floor that was entirely too modern for me. Coupled with this ambient elevator music, the dancers in black tops and tights rolled around and got up and rolled around again…lather, rinse and repeat. I imagine the whole idea behind the dance must have been something like the artistic representation of life that captures the fluid movement of a drop of water. Of course, all of this was lost on me.

The Canadian art section consisted of three things – winter, snow and forests. Mind you, I believe it captured Canadian-ism perfectly. Sometimes, it even had all three elements. In most cases, I saw an overlapping theme of winter and snow.

I’m also reading Anna Karenina. If reading A Song of Ice and Fire is like going on a roller coaster, this is comparable to riding a see-saw.

(Speaking of A Song of Ice and Fire, A Dance with Dragons comes out in July! He has lived to publish another installment of the series.)

Inspirations Needed

2011-05-12T06:38:00.000-07:00

I know I mentioned a fashion post but those pictures did not come out as I’d hoped. Neither did the other five drafts for a potential new post so I scraped those too. And also I’ve no motivation to write when the weather is so brilliantly serenading at my soul. And don’t forget, I’m also and still sick.

My excuses spring from a never-ending well of resources. In the mean time, enjoy some daily inspirations.

(Igor & André)

(JAK&JIL)

(Igor & André)

(Alexander McQueen)

The Article: First Year Woes and Hoes

2011-05-07T12:21:00.000-07:00

Having decided to forgo campus visits in grade 12, I’ve constructed my own image of universities from a mash-up of Gilmore Girls and American Pie. Picture, if you will, tall lanky boys sporting Greek letters, intellectual debates with my professors, and ground-breaking, earth-shattering, self-perpetuating parties.

Imagine my surprise.

I started off with frosh, like all enthusiastic go-getter first years. This is important so I’m going to spell it out for you – go to Frosh. If you are a guy and don’t care about meeting new people, then kiss any opportunity of canoodling with a girl goodbye as well. It’s likely you will never find another place where girls have little morals, no standards and be irresponsibly indecent at the same time (unless you join a sorority). If you are a girl, this is the time where you’ll make those friends that become your friends for life. Those friends you see in movies, experiencing pregnancies and mid-life crises together, the sort that meet up bi-weekly in a café shop to reminisce about their glory days of skinny diving and taut belly.

The expression ‘freshman 15’ is usually applicable if you live on campus. It happens in a succession of phases that is similar to pregnancy. The first trimester begins at frosh because they believe first years will eat anything if they are hungry (largely true) and like all good formulas, anything plus liquor equates a positive gain. Never mind the fact that hot dogs, pizzas, and hamburgers on the menu are as prevalent as STDs in a whorehouse where veggies are akin to something like virgins.

Most people will have one or two high school ‘friends’ at their university/college, if that’s you, don’t stick to them like butter to a frying pan. Reconnecting with your old school pals is nice but part of going to university, living on campus or getting older is meeting new people. By the time you’ve reconnected, you may have realized that there was a lot of growing up on both sides and you should have seen the warning sign when she laughed at your Backstreet Boy poster.

Signing up for clubs during the club fair is important, however in a matter of two weeks, it is likely you will consider 99% of them spam in your inbox and pay attention to the 1% because that one really cute boy told you he’s in it. Join at least one extra-curricular in your first year for the reason that you find it worth your time (joining dragon boat because you purely wanted to become more athletic is a lame excuse, really). It’s hard not to assume my immediate attraction to Hot Yam, a student run food collective that serves organic vegan food, is probably my body’s knee-jerk reaction to campus food.

Concerning relationships, I’d like to use one of my favourite British saying: don’t be in a hurry to get your knickers in a knot over a boy. Yet, it is easier said than done. Things are seldom as neat and tidy as your grandmother’s recount of how she met your grandfather (and even sometimes then). With Facebook, texts, and countless other social platforms, there is really no fine line between random hook-ups and serious obsessions. And when break-up and midterms make a head-on clash, you’ll be regretting it more than say, a hangover.

If you are one of the few that has a high school boyfriend, that’s even worse. Don’t repeat the same mistake as my friend. Instead of spending a good year making eye contact with that really cute frosh leader whose name always coincidentally rhymes with rad. You will be spending countless hours agonizing over the phone and making expensive trips to meet that significant other. But let’s get one thing straight, this significant other will become very insignificant once you break up over Skype. And unless you live in a small town on an island, it is highly plausible to never see him again.

Having said what I’ve said, university is still about finding the right balance between work and life. Whether that’ll be joining a fraternity, getting to a first name basis with your professor, or just having a blast, it’s important to spend a good chunk of your time completing assignments and studying for the finals. As much as it begrudge myself to say this, I wished I studied a little more instead of literally wasting time watching the paint dry.

Nothing else can wrap this up better than one of those stupid expressions I’ve heard a thousand times but never really registered with me until now.

Don’t be an idiot, make the most out of it.

Over-sharing

2011-05-07T12:09:00.000-07:00

I almost always over-share. I over-shared as a four year old ripping off a bandaid in front of a girl I've just met to prove that the bone was visible. I over-shared personal and embarrassing details of my life all the time, likeness to when Liz Lemon met Oprah Winfrey (then again, who wouldn't?, it's Oprah).

And thank god for my best friend, or else I would have definitely over-shared this time. I was asked to submit a sample from my portfolio. A term that is completely strange to me. Portfolio? I don't think I have had a proper portfolio since my sixth grade teacher put together my art portfolio.

What was I going to show him? I thought about this blog, but that was too private. I thought about my fanfiction, which would definitely constitute as soft-core porn on paper, too blatantly impossible. But I had no choice, that was definitely my best piece of work. I called my friend.

She struck some sense into me and told me to just write a new piece of article. It wouldn't take too long anyways. My sensible self could have told me that, if not for my over-sharing tendencies.

Sick Days Reflection

2011-05-05T08:49:00.000-07:00

I hate being sick. Yes, it’s one of those blog posts – complaining about the common cold. I have warned you thusly. Also, this post was meant to inspire some sympathy because I’m waging a losing battle.

Coughing is an exercise regimen. Every time I cough, my stomach hurts like I’ve been doing push-ups nonstop.
You gain a raspy voice that indicates wisdom beyond your age, and a chain-smoking habit.
I’m not in awe, I’m just breathing through my mouth because my nose is inaccessible.
Everything tastes the same after a few days. During this period, do not try to assume expiration date due to taste.
Be right back, I have a head-ache.
It’s not epilepsy, I’m just convulsing from the coughing.
Avoid all mirrors because it’s not a pretty sight.
Paper towel, tissue, napkins, toilet paper, facial napkins, ANYTHING WILL DO.
Boil everything because then you can chuck your head in the steam.
If your parents are Asian, don’t drink the dark liquid they give you.

Expect a fashion post next time.

Wedding

2011-04-29T08:06:00.000-07:00

I'm gushing. Should my eyes be filled with tears, do not be alarmed. This happens when I happen to witness anything related to weddings, baby showers, and general estrogen producing moments (e.g. cliche romantic movies).

If my hormones were charted, it would be off the chart.

There's no other way to express it. I love her dress. I love the exchange of the vows. The moment when William was fumbling with the ring. I had a stupid, dazed smile on my face because I kept thinking about weddings in general.

I'm not a hardcore/die hard royalist. There's no other way to put it than 'I don't care'. But weddings, now that's the magic button to push if you want a girl to swoon. Well, this girl anyways.

I'm going to leave the rest of talking to this picture.

(CBC News)

Baby bump watch next?

Far East Movement

2011-04-27T06:45:00.000-07:00

I went to see the Far East Movement last night. I had actually prepared a week in advance for this concert. I made a list wherein I list all the things I was going to bring/need. I made an itinerary (bathroom breaks and all). I checked upcoming weather on TV, on the web, on my phone, incessantly and whenever I had nothing to do. I spent countless hours on the phone with my friend going over every detail until it was burned into our soggy brain parts. I even looked up the names of the members so I would know what to scream when, if fortune decides to smile on me, one of them happen to walk by. I came so far as to match their names with their faces on Google images (an impossible feat when Asians decide to dress alike, sport sunnies all the time and get the same haircut).

The anal retentive part of me was very active, to say the very least. In general, we wasted a lot of time which became a bigger time-wasted when we decided to scratch the whole plan.

First, we became tourists in our own city, the rowdy teenage type. We got lost in the PATH, snapped pictures like we've never seen a bookstore, and found everything "coooooooooooooool" or "raaaaaaaaaaad"!

I guess I'm just trying to say I had fun even though it wasn't like how I planned it to be. I also think I'm wasting all yer times.

To sum it up, we arrived prematurely, waited in the classic Toronto weather ("bipolarally cold"), reconnected with old friends by loudly and shamelessly overusing "OMG", and waited some more when we got in. The following scene I will narrate to you in a dialogue.

Proghress: Hey there, wanna hang out after the concert?
Me: Sorry, I'm expected to be home at 12.

OH wait, I might have dreamt that. Although I did scream Kevin's name like a maniac, because I completely forgot the other member's names and most of the lyrics except for the chorus of "Like a G6" which I proudly bellowed.

(Canon PowerShot S780 IS)

(Google Image)

I can't tell them apart and I'm an Asian.

Lavendar

2011-04-25T12:47:00.000-07:00

I really dig the colour lavendar. Here are two shots from my camera that captures this colour really well. On the left is my cat with a pot of flower and next to that is a knitted top with see-through sequin on the bow (from Esprit).

New leaf

2011-04-25T11:25:00.000-07:00

Hello everybody,

I finally started a blog! I've been meaning to get to it after browsing through countless numbers of fashion, wedding and food blogs and I've decided to jump on the bandwagon as well. I finished my exams a couple days ago so I have no excuse to delay.

The first year of university was really amazing and confusing. The jump from high school to university is such a huge difference and provides a huge learning gap. Anyways, I hope I'll have lots of things to write about this summer. I am planning to find a job, or an internship, travel and/or vacation somewhere not too far, and just be around and about in Toronto.

Also, I really need to figure out how to customize this blog. I've been toggling with the layout for three hours and I am still quite lost about HTML/CSS. I feel like I have so much to learn since I'm starting from point zero.

Here's to a new beginning! I'm oh so very excited.