Bits of LA

It took me forever, but I'm finally blogging about my trip to LA trip!!! I just can't put in EVERYTHING that I did, so I'm limiting it to just the best and bare minimum! And it's not in any particular order hehe~

I just want you to know that I LOVED LA. And one of the reason's why I loved my trip so much was because I woke up seeing this every morning. ISN'T IT PRECIOUS?!?

I'll start off with why I decided to go to LA in the first place. Last year, my spring break was just bad, bad, bad. That's not how college students should experience their first spring break! It's supposed to be fun, crazy, and memorable with your friends. So for my sophmore year, I wanted to have a spring break like that to make up for my shitty one. My awesome group of friends planned to go to Canada for at least 3 days and just go clubbing for hours and hours. But the plan just failed because there were too many of us that were "thinking about it" and I hate indecisive people, especially when it comes to traveling and having group get-togethers!

So I basically said "screw you guys" and then bought my round trip plane ticket to Los Angeles after getting my parents permission just like that lol. And I decided to go ALONE.

Besides, a few of my cousins visited me and my family a couple years ago in Boston and they wouldn't stop begging my parents to send all of us to LA. My other guy cousin that moved to LA a few years ago also tell us to go visit him. I also strangely made a lot of friends that were from LA and they were also going back to their hometown for their break and they were all telling me to visit as soon as possible. And the last time I went to California was way back when I was in middle school. It was just the perfect time to go visit my cousins, explore California at an older and smarter age, meet friends, and party! That's what a spring break should be like.

My flight was on March 16 around 8AM, and it was a Friday so I had to skip classes so that I could get to the Logan airport hehe. (SO WORTH SKIPPING CLASS)

I read my 1Q84 book by my favorite author, Haruki Murakami, for like 30 minutes during my flight and then knocked out for the rest of the time since I didn't sleep due to being super excited to leave Massachusetts.

When I landed, I got a call right away from my guy cousin, Mike, that he was going to pick me up from the airport. As I left the LAX airport, I ran to Mike and gave him a BIG hug haha. I missed him so much since I pretty much grew up looking up to him and he had finally left the east coast for the west. He drove around the area and then when I saw the palm trees, it hit me that I was finially in Los Angeles!

The first thing that we did was go to the Los Angeles Gun Club to go shooting! I've never gone shooting before so it was just scary. The guy wouldn't stop saying "don't point the gun at something that you don't want to shoot because they CAN KILL. Don't ever point it at yourself or another because they CAN KILL PEOPLE." Then my cousin picked the rifle and a revolver for us and just gave it to me to try... Never in my life have I felt so scared to just hold something. But after a few shots, I got used to it and what can I say? I was really good for a first timer!

I personally picked the dirty looking man to shoot at :)

After we ate at Philippe's! That guy from the TV Show Man vs. Food, Adam something, had been here before to do their food challenge but they didn't have a picture of him for some reason... But they're known for their French dipped sandwiches and stuff and I didn't take a picture because I ate it so quickly. It was that good haha.

Then we left LA and headed to the house that other cousins lived in which was actually in Glendale. And their neighborhood was the prettiest and cutest neighborhood that I've ever seen! Then again, the weather is beautiful in California and Boston just doesn't have tropical plants and lemon trees just growing around. (and the house that the Prince of Bel-Air was shown is super close to my cousin's house! I got to see it up close!)

When I got to my other cousin's house, I was greeted by ALL SEVEN Maltese dogs. THEY WERE ALL SO CUTE! I just couldn't get a picture with all seven of them together because they're always on the move. But they all took a liking to me immediately even though it was my first time seeing them, probably because they knew I was family :)

I got the names down quickly and one of my favorites, Xena liked to sit in my legs all the time if Junior wasn't already there. 

Junior, my other favorite is the tiny one sitting on my lap. He's the smallest out of all the dogs and has that Napoleon syndrome where he just thinks he's the boss of everyone and always tries to take my lap first for himself.

Eventually the rest of my cousins came back from work and my week of fun began! So the rest of my cousins are Kristen, Alex, and Song, and they're all sisters. I hung out with all of them, including Mike during my time, but the one that I explored LA with was Kristen since she was the one that I kept in contact the most while I was "planning" and she took the week off of work to just play with me!

I really didn't have a plan on what I wanted to do while I was in LA, but I trusted Kristen who is pretty much a true Korea-California girl and we just went to as many places as we could physically go to. AND EAT.

And already the first night of my stay, we went out. I thought I was just going to have family catch up time with all of my cousins and my aunt and uncle, but that was going to be another day lol. Kristen wanted to take me out to a rooftop bar and a club right away. I'll save that story for my later post because that was special. Either way, it was a memorable first night in LA.

The only problem about my entire stay that we had to watch out for was the weather... The one week that I stayed in LA was the COLDEST week that they experienced that whole month!!! And that same week was one of the HOTTEST weeks back in Boston! But that didn't stop us :)

I had to wear long-sleeves or a cardigan and jacket all the time. The funny thing was since Californians aren't used to low 60 degree weather that I saw kids and adults in parkas and wearing mittens on some days! wtf they would die in New England winter storms then...
Moving on, one of my favorite places that I went to was Little Tokyo! It's not that big, but that entire place is just gorgeous! What I think is the main/most popular entrance is built like this:

And right across the main entrance is the illest store!!! I didn't go in it because I was a little skeptical about what it was, so I took a picture of it instead... I REGRET IT SO MUCH! If you don't know what illest is, it's a Korean brand made by underground hip hop artists and they sell things like clothing, hats, and more! The illest store itself sells more things from other brands and it's almost only for guys who wear that hip hop style. But I love the Korean hip hop artists that associate themselves with "illest" and UGH I'M GOING IN THERE NEXT TIME!

There many, many stores in Little Tokyo where they sell tons of Japanese beauty products! They don't sell any Japanese products in Boston... There were much many Palty hair dyes in this store and I bought my Jewel Peach one here! I also bought my sister one but I forgot what color -___-

I'm sure many of you guys know about the Cure product that rids your skin of dirt and stuff in seconds. They sold so many of these and a bottle was only about $30! I'm pretty sure that's cheaper that buying it online. I didn't get it because my sister already has one and I personally DON'T LIKE IT. I put some on my hand to try and it works! The only thing is that my skin felt irritated for the rest of the damn day as if the chemicals burned... Thank god I didn't try it on my face or my face would have hurt.

Cute stuff and stationary galore! I bought a ton of things for my friends, my sisters, and my cousin in this particular store!

There's also a mall and inside they have thing Japanese bakery called Beard Papa's! They pretty much only sell fresh cream puffs and IT'S THE MOST DELICIOUS CREAM PUFF I'VE EVER HAD! It's a chain bakery found all over LA and apparently it's been featured on CNN too because it's just so fresh and yummy! They put the filling in after you order it so you know that's good lol. There are many different fillings and strawberry was my favorite! It's SO LIGHT AND FLUFFY INSIDE and I wanted to bring a box of them back to Boston with me, but then they would've gone bad :'(

The famous IN-AND-OUT burger restaurant! I didn't know that people that live hours away would drive all the way up to California to just eat some of their burgers and fries! Unfortunately, I've never eaten a burger in my life and I never will because I just am like that. So I can't testify how good and fresh the burgers are. But I ate the french fries and MY GOD THEY WERE THE BEST FUCKING FRIES. I never knew french fries could be good in general. It's so crunchy with the right amount of salt and crunchiness and ugghhhh. McDonald's and Burger King fries can go to hell. Inside IN-AND-OUT, you can see them cutting up the potatoes and deep frying them before they give it to you - that's how fresh it is! Same goes with the meat and the buns with the burgers.

SO! If the french fries are that good, it must mean that the burgers are even greater! As much as I hate burgers, the IN-AND-OUT burgers actually look good.

Unfortunately I barely went shopping during my stay, mainly because I was more focused on just experiencing the culture of LA. But of the few times that I went out to go shopping, I went to the Americana mall and it's the prettiest outdoor, plaza-like mall I've every been too! And they had another Beard Papa's there!

Me and my aunt <3

I fell in love with this store. It's by mainly Korean fashion designers and everything in there were soft colors and so pretty! I forget the name of the store and I really regret not buying anything there!

And of course I had to eat some pinkberry froyo, even though we have it too.

This is Mr. Pizza! It's a chain restaurant originated in Korea and it's SO GOOD. KOREAN PIZZA IS DIFFERENT AND JUST SO GOOD.

I'll add a random, but super cute dog picture to take a break from food. It's Gong-ju (means 'princess' in Korean) and Junior!

This is TOM N TOMS COFFEE. It's another chain coffee shop from Korea and it's surprisingly really good. I used to think all coffee shops were pretty much the same until I tried their stuff. Their coffee tasted less like coffee and more like whatever they were flavored to be, but you could still taste the coffee. It had the perfect balance of that bitter coffee taste and sweetness! Like I think Starbucks can get too sweet sometimes and I hate it. But Tom N Toms, I just can't put it in words! And their sodas are hundred times better than canned sodas! It's a something in-between that sparkling water/soda crap and typical canned sodas. Why are Korean made food so freaking good?

Posing outside of the Tom N Toms we went into with the random monkey statue.

Tutti Fruitti froyo. I could not stop eating froyo for the entire trip.

I had to try out an all you can eat Korean BBQ restaurant in K-town! There are tons of those in California, very few in New York, and none in Boston. WHY WON'T BOSTON HAVE ONE?!?!

Me and Kristen!

Looks so tasty! I still remember how good it was and how much my cousins made me eat. We ordered so much and I tried cow tongue meat for the first time there too!

Korean Town is just... amazing. It has everything a Korean wants. Allston in Boston is kind of a mini k-town. Well not even. And the K-Town in New York is still pretty lacking. And Flushing in New York is just taken over by Chinese people and Koreans are slowly moving out. But the k-town in LA... it's big. And it has really good restaurants, karaoke, Korean styled bars (even indoor 포자마차 styled ones!), clubs, apartments, malls, clothing stores, makeup stores, banks, markets, and more. To people from the west coast are probably like, duh you dumbass, but I grew up in Boston and just go to New York once in a while, so it was all just new to me.

This is in the inside of the Kodak Theater in Hollywood. Funny thing happened to me here. While I was walking in front of the Kodak Theater along the streets, this black guy came up to me trying to sell me his album. Of course I said no because they usually suck and it's a kind of a sham in trying to just get your money. It happens in New York and Boston all the time. But this guy wouldn't stop asking me where I was from and if I was Korean. I gave in and told him that yes, I'm Korean, and yes, I'm not from California but from Boston. He told me that I seemed really cool and instead of trying to sell me his new and awesome hip hop record, he wanted to get to know me and "show me the Hollywood nightlife". Then he bugged me even more pulling out the random Korean words he knew and telling me that he's friends with famous actors. He tried to get my number and just wouldn't leave me alone and followed me for the longest time. Eventually it went too far when he tried to hug me to say goodbye. This creepy asshole's name was HOTSAUCE. wtf.

And of course I went to a beach! I only had time to go to one and it was Venice beach! The weather was way too windy and cold to go into the water and even tan, but there were still some people soaking up the sun to get the amazing glow that Californians have. Venice beach, I guess, is known to have a ton of street performances and other weird stuff on the side. Tons of stalls to get medicinal marijuana too... Anyway my favorite with this guy with a super strong Jamaican accent that carved animal faces and other things on palm tree wood. He carves them really fast and on the spot. His work is amazing I think and bigger than you think! Kristen and I took a picture with him, but the stupid tourist didn't know how to take good pictures so we came out weird...

BEST. GRILLED. CHICKEN. EVER. I've never thought fast-food grilled chicken could be as tasty as this. They have a lot of different sauces too to eat it with and uagiudguhsdg SO GOOD. It was so good I packed some back with me to Boston to give to my family to try out. I remember on the plane when the guy opened the cabinet to get his stuff, his expression changed because the chicken smelled so strong LOL. I don't care because my family loved it too! My sister was fasting chicken for Easter, but even she couldn't resist vons oven chicken!!!

And that's it! Just bits of my LA trip. There were so many more things that I did there. And there are so many more things that I just didn't have time to do! EVERYONE MUST GO sometime in their early lifetime! I'm so happy that I went there for my spring break instead of staying home or even Canada. Canada can't compare ;)

Watching surgery with my own eyes

Happy first day of summer! It's the first of many days when it's actually HOT and HUMID outside here in Massachusetts. It's really gross, actually. I walked for about 10 minutes to the train this morning and I was already feeling a little nasty...

Anyway this is going to be a really quick post about my day today because I experienced something that I never had before - I almost passed out while watching surgery in person!

Wednesdays are the days when I volunteer in the hospital. I went in to greet my supervisor, talked about some stuff going on with the hospital, got my lunch ticket, and met my friend to eat together. My friend is also a volunteer, at a different department though. We met randomly while we were sent to go get the mail for our supervisor, because you definitely need more than one person to get the mail -___-;;

Coincidentally we go to the same school and when we learned that we connected right away. So during lunch we talk about the good and the bad things about our school, our crazy party stories, drama that has happened to us, etc. Today we talked about the guys in our lives. And you know those silly and funny cliches- in movies especially- where students have relationships with the teacher and can end up in getting good grades? Well.... THEY ACTUALLY EXIST!!! My friend's story was super complicated and funny, and she ended by saying, "I bet you didn't know that about me!" LOL. I guess there is a reason why those cliches exist in the first place!


After we finished, I walked into the emergency room and pretty much stood around, cleaned some rooms which I'm technically not allowed to do because I need training (to clean wtf), and just talked with the nurses. A very typical day.

Then the nurse that I was helping out was needed to set up in the minor surgery room and told me that I could actually watch the surgery! I just wasn't allowed to touch anything because I don't have the proper knowledge or training, which was fine by me.

I just wanted to watch and learn! It would add to my experience as a future medical student. And many of the nurses and doctors were telling me that I'm lucky to be experiencing this now at an early age since most students observe their first surgery once they attend a medical school. To add to my luck, I was the first volunteer to be in the minor operation room and observe a surgery! And it wasn't just a simple, 30 minute surgery where they just remove a cyst in the eye, but one that involved a lot of stitching that was expected to last a couple of hours, but it's still a minor surgery since only local anesthesia was used. It's just a minor surgery so I can handle it.

The patient that came in had many deep cuts around the eye. The surgeon started to put in injections around the eye and cheeks to numb the area even more. Some bleeding happened as expected. I watched amazed with my eyes wide open; this is my first surgery that I get to observe in person! It's different than watching an operation on TV. The surgeon continued to clean up the blood that was dripping and put in more injections, this time in the eyelid and near the nose. But then the patient started to cry out in pain and shake since those areas were still sensitive to pain.

That's when it hit me... I started to feel so bad for the patient and started to imagine the pain that the patient was experiencing. I've never had to get stitches before either, so I just didn't know. And the injections and the blood that didn't bother me at all before started to freak me out.

I started to lose feeling in my legs then to the rest of my body. I got light headed, my vision got a little blurry. Then I started to hear that ringing noise that you hear after going to a concert, but it was 10 times louder than what I've ever experienced. I quietly said that I was leaving then a nurse saw me fumbling and helped me sit down and get me water. 


So yeah. I thought I could handle it, but instead I almost passed out LOL. It was seriously the strangest feeling that I've ever felt. I've never passed out before or get really light headed from anything so it was just.... weird. And I've seen many pictures and seen so many surgeries online or on TV and I'm always comfortable with them. But like I mentioned earlier, seeing it in person is different than seeing it on a screen. It's nothing like watching them perform surgery on a patient on TV. It's because you're actually in the room with an actual living, breathing person that you could'be talked to 10 minutes ago. And usually when you're watching a surgery on TV, they're under general anesthesia, so they're completely knocked out. But I could hear and see the patient in pain and that was what got to me the most. 


Now I'm a little worried about how I'm going to handle a bigger kind of surgery to be honest. I want to become a plastic surgeon and I'm going to have to see the face all cut apart then put together. But the other nurses and some of the emergency doctors all assured me that experiencing what I encountered happens to pretty much everyone with their first time observing surgery in person and that after the first time it gets a lot easier. Couple of the doctors there told me that they fainted completely when they were observing for the first time. And the nurses then were all talking about their first times, and it was really amusing actually. But you just build a tolerance to it and learned to sit down if you have to, not lock in your knees, and eat a little before to let the blood flow and not get nervous. And of course when I was watching, I was standing, knees locked, and I didn't eat much for at least 4 hours.
All in all, this was the mark of the first time I've observed surgery! And it's a good one for me since it was around the eye area and when I go into the plastic field, there's always someone getting their eyes done. It's relate-able. Yay, I'm getting part of the experience done and over with already.

And some other random stuff that happened throughout the day. A ton of people complimented my nails and were amazed how I did it on my own with just the brush the nail polish came with. It's a gradient pattern from gold to a blue-green color and the picture doesn't show how sparkly it really is.  And I think my hands are ugly :( I don't care people always love my nails.

And as I was walking back to North Station from the hospital, someone in the cars that I must've passed by did one of those wolf whistles at me. I don't know whether I should be flattered that someone found me nice to look at, or grossed out, or scared that someone could in fact rape me. I wonder what other people think of when they get whistled at...

Haircut and things I learned

I got my hair cut a couple days ago and I'm so happy with it!

I decided not to do anything crazy because my first priority is to get rid of all the damaged hair from previous dying and that goddamn digital perm that I got a year ago. Pretty much all of it is chopped off and gone now! But that means my hair is right above my boobs now -_-

Anyway, I haven't had a hair cut in a salon in a really long time... Maybe it's almost been a year? I've been cutting my own hair since I just needed to trim it every month. And I never wanted to go back to the lady that cut my hair because she wasn't THAT good - besides she was the same one that did the horrible perm job.

So my mom made the appointment at this one hair salon that I USED to go to all the time. I used to go there because the guy that I really liked moved to New York and he was the only good stylist there. And the next time I went there to get my hair cut after he left, I didn't like it all because the girls were bitchy and they weren't good at all.

But I decided to give them another chance since those girls probably left and I was there at least 6 years ago.

This is the inside of the hair salon that I went to. It's pretty, clean, and pink! And if you haven't guessed  already, it is run by fairly young, stylish Koreans! I love it since young, stylish Koreans almost always know how to make hair look good.

Anyway, the unnie that cut my hair was pretty and she taught me a few things about hair since she was honestly pretty shocked at how bad my hair was. And just to clarify, this is all according to her experience working with hair at that salon. So maybe this stuff isn't as correct according to another hair stylist in a different salon since they can do things differently *cough*worse?*cough*.

1. Perms don't actually cause that much damage to your hair, UNLESS it's on dyed hair.

So yeah, if you get a curling perm of any kind, it actually won't damage your hair that much. But if it's on dyed hair, it'll typically damage it a lot because your hair is already dried, and the perm can literally melt your hair and dry it up even more. 

But don't a lot of people with dyed hair still get perms and it's still in really good condition? Probably yes. But even a lot of Korean celebrities don't get perms. They always have a hair stylist and their beautiful curls or straightened hair is done by blow drying, ironing, and hairspray lol. Some do get perms on dyed hair, but even their hair don't look silky soft. Besides, how many of us have professional hair stylists that celebrities do?

There's G Dragon in the Lollipop days and Jokwon with his baby perm. 

Anyway, I guess if you have super strength hair, perming even on dyed hair might turn out fine. But not all dyed hair is the same, which leads me to number 2.

2. NEVER use those do-it-yourself hair dyes sold in drug stores.

This is something I've done all the time, even though I know it's not as good as whatever the hell they have in the salons. It's probably not that different, but I'm pretty sure what they have has better ingredients that aren't as harsh. 

Which sucks kind of, because I've been wanting to dye my hair with the Prettia brand in the Jewel Peach color. But I want to listen to that unnie.... But I can't promise anything lol. It's okay to use the box stuff, just know how to dye your hair. My hair was fine using those boxes until the perm melted my hair.

3. Only dye the roots, almost never just touch up with the rest of the hair, especially the roots.

This makes sense since constantly dying the same dyed hair is only going to kill it more. Your hair color can go dull after, but like I said, those boxes don't beat those salon quality dyes. And they're professionals, so they know exactly what to do when it comes to touching up and when to do it. 

I never knew there was this thing called 'coating' and it's something you can do to make hair look shinier and it protects dyed/permed hair! It's expensive, but that's the price of looking good.

All in all, I loved talking with her so much, that I've decided to go back to that hair salon from now on! She taught me more about how to cut hair and stuff too, so I want to get my hair done by her all the time. 

I finally have someone that I trust to cut and style my hair! She cut off all the dead hair that I had and barely layered it, like I asked. What I'm thankful for too is that my hair can finally grow to a really long length. Having damaged hair prevents you from growing it out so long since you're constantly going to have to trim it to maintain it. And damaged hair breaks too.

So this what how long my hair was before (you can see the damaged hair too lol) 

Ta-daaaa~ And this is what it is now!!

Haha, not that much different like I said, right? But oh god, no more tangled hair when I'm brushing through it, and no more dry feeling hair!!!!

I'm going to miss my long hair though. Although it looked damaged, I got so many compliments from random people about the style and the color. And now I can't do full buns anymore. OH WELL!!

Now that the yucky hair is all gone, I can grow it out really long without having to trim it every month! 

I'm planning to do some big changes with my hair too in the fall/winter and I'm sure to go back to that unnie!

I'm not stupid, I'm doing just fine

Today I did a lot of thinking when I woke up at 10am today, realizing that I missed church again - this time because I went to my friend's 21st birthday get together really late last night.

First I thought about the birthday. I was really excited about it because it was going to be my first time seeing my closest college friends during this summer. Even though it is the summer, it's so hard for me to meet my friends because we're all busy with work, internships, and more. But most of us were able to make it last night to celebrate one of my closest girl friends 21st!

Like I said, is wasn't anything huge, especially since we are all underage but her and one other. So it's not like we rented a VIP room to a club in Boston, haha. We went to eat together. I was the first one to arrive in the restaurant in Chinatown and I just felt happier and happier as I saw my friend's come in one by one. 

We ordered a lot of food and we couldn't stop talking as we were all catching up on how our summer's were. This was when I started to feel a little sad. Pretty much all of my friends are all really busy with great (and well paid!) internships and work or taking EMT summer classes - that's a lot of commitment and work. I was the only one that was still looking for work and pretty much sleeping and doing nothing all day except for Wednesdays for just four hours... I told my friends that since I have nothing to hide and honesty is always good. 

To my surprise, I got interesting responses from everyone. The most I got was about how I should be really happy that I am volunteering in a large and well known hospital in Boston. Especially since I'm volunteering in the emergency room with no previous hospital-setting exposure of any kind. I must have made some kind of impression to get the position right away because those kind of positions are usually very limited and competitive. I should be happy that I'm not sorting out the mail or tossing the soiled linen in the buckets as volunteering!

And the most interesting one was from one of my friends that's interning right now. He told me that he honestly wished he just relaxed this summer before his junior year rather than take on the internship. Relax?! I've been stressing out everyday since school ended about finding a simple job and I just feel like I'm wasting away my money, energy, and most importantly, TIME. But my friend's argument was that this summer, our summer before that we all become juniors, is the time to relax and do maybe do something small before the next year when it'll probably count more and we would have more experience in life to take on something even bigger.

But the sooner you get an internship during your college experience the better, right? Well, the internship made my friend realize that later on the career road, whether you interned for some amazing company or not at our specific age, it doesn't really matter. 

At his internship, there are SO many interns that he feels like he's not getting anything super special from it, and yet he works eight hours almost everyday. How much time and energy he puts into it isn't worth the experience that he's getting. He was basically telling me that having an internship isn't as big of a deal as it might sound, especially in this age when everyone is so competitive to get a job. And since this economy is so bad, it's so hard getting work even at the smallest places. I'm a prime example for that statement, sadly to say. There are many, MANY people out there that aren't super busy like him working for a big company for the summer, yet they're going to be just fine in the long run. As long as they don't slack off in school of course. Even though what I'm doing now may seem nothing, IT'S NOT. And I can always make my experience bigger and better if I keep working on it!

The rest of my friends agreed. Just relax and keep on doing what I'm doing. I just have to make my next summer the big one - and I've been making big plans on how to achieve that anyway! It's not like I'm stupid...

It's not like I'm stupid.

I missed church again.

I'm really not that stupid... And I missed church again... Stupidity and church... You see where I'm going?

That was the second thing I did a lot of thinking on: people at my church think I'm really stupid... They underestimate me all the time. 

AND I ABSOLUTELY HATE IT.

Don't get me wrong, I love going to church. I just hate how some, well in my case a lot of people, just can't get rid of their ideals on what an intelligent person looks like and how they should act. And another thing I want to put out is that it's not just church people, it's a lot of people at school and random gatherings. So I don't want people thinking shit like, "oh see Christians are all corrupted and fake. The church is a just a place for people to gather and surround themselves with others saying that they'll always be forgiven with their sins and soak in their glory thinking that they're better than everyone else just because they're Christians." I hear stuff like that all the time, and those statements have no foundation, and it has nothing to do what I'm going to be talking about. It just happens that this morning I specifically thought about the people at my own church since I did happen to miss it again. 

Anyway, as I got older, I started to dye my hair to brighter colors, dress more stylishly and not so plain or conservatively, and wear makeup. For many years in my church, I was always one of the very few or the only one with brightly dyed hair and that just made me stand out. And because of the way my eyes are shaped, I have to wear thicker eye liner than others. With those two combined, a lot of people started to assume that I went out a lot and partied, had a lot of boyfriends or some kind of relationship with guys, and didn't really study. Some kids would ask me on the side as if they were going to get something juicy out of me. Nope, all during high school I was a smart girl that just went home right after school to finish my homework and watch TV with my mom. I never had a thing with any guy either.

At the end of the day, my mom would tell me how I just look like a 걸레. A 걸레 is literally a rag that people use to wash things with, google translate says it's a mop. But in slang, when someone is called a 걸레, it pretty much means that they're being called a slut. She wouldn't mean it in a harsh way, but she was just worried that the other ahjummas might think that. She's right too, if she thinks slightly as a joke in that way, of course other ahjummas would think that. That, of course, doesn't help me look any smarter.

I remember that sometimes when I'm talking to some other guys and girls my age, I could just tell by the way they answer me and how they look at me, that they think that they're better than me because I "look" dumb. Especially when on the topic of school, grades, SATs, extracurricular stuff, and college. OH! Another thing I forgot was the fact that I didn't SPEAK Korean fluently made some people my age look down upon me. Which sucks because it's not like I don't understand it and can't converse with a Korean at all...

Just because I like and know what things make myself look prettier in the way I want to, doesn't make me any less stupid. I know one's appearance is a pretty efficient way to judge a person's character but it's not always right. I can't lie that I do it too, but I never talk to that person with a weird attitude thinking that I'm better than them. When I want to make some kind of final judgement (ignoring my first instincts), I usually go with what kind of impression I get after talking with that person. But nope that's not what happened most of the time with me.

And I am not as stupid as many people may think of me. I don't really want to talk about how exactly, but I'll just say that I did really well in high school as I was a part of the National Honors Society and did well on SATs, and I have other talents here and there. But I sure didn't look like I had any of those associated with me to them!

My mom would obviously be proud of me and talk about me and how well I did to other ahjummas when they asked. She would tell me later that they had a really surprised look when they heard my grades and scores as if they was impossible and just question me... And when it came to college, ugh, I hated it.

Even now, I still get that look from others. It has gotten better though since people finally KNOW me who for I really am and not by my looks. But nonetheless, it's still enough reason for me to shut up about how I want to become a plastic surgeon and even what I'm doing this summer to church people and ahjummas. I told my mom and my sisters not to tell others either. 

Shouldn't I just be loud and proud about it? Maybe. But I just hate getting those awkward "oh"s and "really?"s. Besides, I'd much rather come out at the end after I succeed and shove my success in their faces and just prove that I am indeed a smart girl rather than a stupid one. damn people.

But... Can I really succeed in the end? Can I get to medical school after I graduate? Can I keep up with the work and stress of probably not being able to marry at an early age? Can I even become a plastic surgeon in the end? 

Of course I think I can do it. I believe that I have the passion to become one. Though, I can't lie that I'm scared of failure. I read blogs by actual plastic surgeons all day and they emphasize on how much work they did to get through it all and how there is a high failure rate to get certified even after completing medical school and residencies. And the amount of material I need to know by heart for the MCATs. It's a lot. I'll say it again, it's a lot. Even though most of it is just review for me, just knowing that I'll need to remember EVERYTHING for that one day in the future is just a one way street to frying my brain. *sigh*

But... I'm not stupid. Some church people got to know me really well and they confessed that they thought I was a party girl and can truly believe me when I say that I do well in school. My sister and my parents believe in me and so do my friends from school.

According to my friends too, what I've been doing and what I'm doing now is just as good as someone who has a big internship. I'm not stupid enough to make dumb decisions that can ruin my aspirations. 

I also remember... When I went to volunteer last time, I got to know one of the sweetest old ladies I've ever met named Linda. She told me her son's life story about the non-typical road he took to become the surgeon next door to the office that we were in. It amazed me by the fact that anything can happen! And that was her good message to me, anything can happen as long as I know what I want - and I'll get it. 

And who knows? Maybe along the way some event will happen that will change my life and maybe I won't want to become a plastic surgeon anymore. I'm not saying that's likely, but anything can happen - maybe I'll want to go into dermatology instead? Or even fashion retail? LOL NO WAY

So yeah it took me a lot of thinking today to make me feel assured that I'm not stupid. In fact, I'm doing just fine and I will succeed in the long run. Just can't stop working hard and continue to love what I love. Which is making me and others look and feel better about themselves! And I don't need other's dumb assumptions about my intelligence and their non-belief in me and my goals. They're probably just scared of me possibly being smarter than they think. Or jealous that someone that dresses better than them also has brains. ㅎㅎㅎ 

Now all I gotta worry about is finding a namja like Kim Soo Hyun

my summer so far

It's already June and I feel like it isn't summer yet since it's been really cold and rainy a lot >:(

Anyway, my summer so far is pretty good, other than the money problems I'm facing with my LA trip, but it's okay! The time will come when hundred dollar bills somehow appear in my wallet... :|

So I did go fishing for a day when one of my cousins from LA visited for the weekend. That day was one of the rare days these past two months when it was actually really sunny outside and hot. We went to a pond and I managed to catch two fish! Or was it three? I don't remember. But the thrill of just catching a fish is a lot more fun that you might think!

 Here's proof that I did catch something lol, but I cropped it because I was making a funny face. This is my tiny large-mouthed bass.

 My catfish. Yeah the fish were small, but I think that's better. If they were any bigger I probably would have freaked out.


And there were many, many days that I went out to Boston already.

Faneuil Hall

 I recently got a new car too and I want one of these bears for my car keys!!!

And of course I hung out with friends too, but I didn't take any pictures with them for some reason... Oh well! I'll see them soon again hehe~

Today was a special day since my youngest sister and I went out for a bit to eat. Just us two for the first time!

 We ate a lot to the point where Christina had to go to the bathroom...... LOL

 Selca in the car, we just had to. Or at least I wanted to haha. We couldn't do anything afterwards because she had to go to the bathroom again -__-
And my face looks bigger/fatter than usual... Gotta do something about it!

And that's it. My pictures are telling that I haven't really done much this summer so far... I did a lot more, but I was too lazy to take pictures, so don't think that was it! Besides, a lot of the bigger events are coming up later this month and July especially (beach, aquarium, Six Flags, New York possibly, my birthday which I got big plans for, and of course LA)!!!

My next post will probably be on my wish list/must haves for the summer.

 If only those dollar bills were hundreds of hundred dollar bills for me...... lol

G.NA's 2HOT Fashion

Few days ago, G.NA released her latest music video '2HOT' from her new, third mini album! The teasers got me pretty excited for it because it sounded catchy with the upbeat piano. Her hair, the outfits, and the hunky Korean firefighters also look so fresh.  Are there such things as hunky Korean firefighters? Lol. And now that I've watched the full music video, all I can say is... I LOVE IT!!

Watch it now if you haven't!

So I can't say that I'm particularly an avid fan of G.NA and her music. I always thought she looked old and funny looking. And her BOOBS are HUGE. I can't tell if they're real or not. And I've been told that in some of my pictures I resembled G.NA and I got pretty offended. But her new image has gotten me convinced that I love her voice, her style, and her body and looks! Now I wish I took those G.NA resemblance comments as a compliment in the past!

(And out of all people, why should I give a fuck if her boobs or face may not be real? hahaha)

Some pictures from showing her everyday fashion:

I can't get over her fashion sense - I think we may share the same tastes since I own similar things! I just wish I had the money to buy better quality pieces and I wish I had long legs and a thin body like hers to pull it off better haha.

Her hair and the clothes that she wears in the 2HOT video are so cute that I went on a mini rampage on finding similar stuff that's affordable so that I can wear it or I can dress up one of my sisters *evil laughing* But I shall share my findings too :)

This is from my Tumblr, but just look at her hair and minimal makeup! I like the two different hair colors, which is getting so freakin' popular, but not everyone can pull it off especially with orange and pink. I want orange hair like hers right now but I just can't yet. This reminds me, I really want to get the Etude House's 'I Love Pink #4' lipstick from the Look at my Lips line. Looks like the same color as her lips, no?

#1
Her first look in the music video is definitely my favorite because I love jackets! And it's the most colorful and it just looks like a lot of fun! Plus, it's everything is SHINY.

(So I know there are a ton of similar items of everything, but I'm literally looking for the MOST SIMILAR. And for something that I would personally wear, so if there is something else that looks like whatever I find, then coooool.)

Her shorts are studded above the entire front pocket area, high-waisted, and cuffed. I found two shorts that I liked the most that looked like hers.

The one on the left is white denim shorts with studs, but it would fit the entire look too. It's from Forever21 for only $17.80! And I don't really like cut-offs since it just makes it look trashier, but it's really easy to just sew up! (type studded shorts in the search bar of their site and you'll find it!)

The light blue denim shorts on the right is from Urban Outfitters, online only, for $79... The denim quality must be a lot better. I know a lot of Forever21 denim get's that lint stuff everywhere after a few wears and washes. (type studded shorts) The stud pattern on these shorts look better in general too.

I had the most fun looking for the top! It's really hard finding a cropped tank top that's tie dyed AND sequinned, but that's okay - as long as it all matches. G.NA's is really bright and colorful and it attracts attention (besides the jacket). I'll admit though, that wearing anything sequinned is a little hard because usually the material fits your body very well and shows every curve you got. More motivation to lose weight!

So I'm going to go left to right, top to bottom, and if you want to find them, just search for 'sequinned' at their sites.

The first one is from cropped tank TOPSHOP for £16.00 which is about $20. If you have a nice body, you could go out in public and show off your stomach and back, unless you want to show off flab. And obviously you wouldn't wear white shorts with this!

Next is actually from Armani Exchange. The one in picture is in Desert Pink for only $29! It comes in a lot of other pinks, white and black, but prices are either $29 or $32 depending on the color. The back doesn't have sequins on it, but it's okay, it's from Armani!

The next one is from Lord and Taylor for $35. It's not sequinned, but the tie dye colors and pattern is pretty!

The rest are from...

Calypsostbarth.com for a whopping $249, and it's out of stock anyway haha

Delia's, on sale for $22.50.

Express on sale for $27.93!

Express also on sale for $27.93. (When I think of sequins, I always think  of Express first, they have so much!)

Mango for £27.99 ($35).

Delia's on sale for $22.50.

Now... The jacket is THE HARDEST thing to find. G.NA's was definitely made by whoever her fashion designer is because there is no way I could find a decent looking BRIGHT magenta jacket with zippers at the sleeves with that metallic paper finish that shines a yellow color. You just can't find one at the moment! Maybe her look will be popular enough that Korea will start making those, but it's definitely not going to be found in your mall anytime soon. I found good replacements anyway.

So to have G.NA's first look, you need a just as eye catching, bright jacket to balance the super sequinned top. If you want to go super cheap, there's a pink denim cropped jacket at Forever for just $24.90! Come's in different colors too, but this is the brightest.

This is a light pink biker jacket, you want to play it a little softer at Miss Selfridge for $91.00.

And if you want to stand out, then you can find a very pink (quilted) biker jacket at Jane Norman for only £35 ($44)!

The next three are all from TOPSHOP for £180 ($225), £45 ($56), and £60 ($75) respectively. I love these jackets and they can work really well even though they're not bright pink! But the black might be a little too... black haha

I wasn't intending to find the jewelry or shoes at all because that's something you just find instantly, but I found these shoes at TOPSHOP for £78 ($98)! G.NA's heels are silver and shiny and laced, but these are similar enough and they're pretty.

#2

G.NA's hair is so cute braided like that. Any, this is so easy to mimic and find in stores, so I won't even try! Just rolled up jeans, leather belt, leopard print heels, and a white tie-up dress shirt. WOW you're done!

#3

G.NA is seen wearing this for like... 3 seconds of the entire music video and it looks like a flower print, high-waisted shorts with a sleeveless black blouse. This is easy too but I like how it kind of looks sleek and I thought I'd mention it anyway. So tucking in your shirt into shorts is all you need to do! Add black heels and wooooo.

ROMWE: $28.99
H&M: 39.99
FOREVER21: $19.80
FOREVER21: $17.80

#4

This is so unique, I would never wear anything like this! haha. It's a simple neon lime-green dress with stud patterns on the bottom. Yeah... Good luck trying to find that.

And she wears those super cute shiny silver heels again with this! I like her hair with that mega fuzzy thing.

#5

This the last one and it's my second favorite! G.NA looks so freakin' cute in this outfit! Just look at that brightening smile! Her lip color is bright and glossy, and having her bangs pinned to the side make her look very youthful LOL. AND LOOK AT THOSE BOOBS. In the music video, they bounce so much at this point that it makes me very jealous about my own. They must be padded a little too haha.

First of all, this look was also designed specifially for her and this video... Finding an oversized bow THAT OVERSIZED is just... I don't even know. And that partial tutu piece that sticks out on her shorts must've been handmade because if you look closely in the music video, it also serves as a belt with the long, black silk/satin strap tied up.  But who would wear a bow that big and a tutu thing in the general public? haha

So I found many similar lace-ish tops from Forever21 and this one was for only $13.80.

And instead of wearing a tutu, a good replacement is just tying a scarf onto your waist. And since this look is too black and white, you can go pink since G.NA has pink in your hair and you most likely don't. Both are from TOPSHOP for £18 ($23) and £16 ($20).

Her shorts look like it's made from silk or satin, so those are almost always on the pricier side. I wouldn't want to wear cheap satin because they scratch easily or just get ruined. The ones with the bows I think are really cute and it's for $96 from Sonia. And the other one is from Theory and it's $150 - Theory is always so overpriced!

G.NA's heels are the cute strapped kind, but I like the ones I found so much more! It looks more modern and sleek. It's from BCBG for freakin $225! I know that's a lot, but shoes need to be in good quality or then they hurt like hell when you walk in them.

And that's it! I hope you liked this post and I hope it helped you out a little on what to buy the next time you go to the mall. I had fun making this post... Maybe I'll make more in the future with other music videos? haha

(Hmm... I LOVE G.NA's style! I really want to go shopping now and update that closet or mine. )


So if you dress like G.NA in her 2HOT music video, who knows? You might have people complimenting on how you look so fresh or even have hunky Korean firefighters check you out :D

BYE