My Favorite Anime/Manga

Mika Nakashima's "Glamorous Sky"

FACT: I am a Japan-aholic. I love all things Japanese, one of them including anime and manga. This blog post is mainly my anime/manga ranting, along with food porn and Oscar :)

Every year around this time, I secretly browse through various pictures of friends who attended the annual Anime Expo (a.k.a. AX) , which is a super-hyped convention for fans of Anime/Manga/etc., and their photographs of cosplayers, which of most were really bad at it, but there were a handful who were very good at becoming their intended characters...

Being an ex-avid-rabid anime fan, I'll admit that I've NEVER been to AX before. Why? Because it IS a super popular event, there are thousands of sweaty anime nerds standing/crowding together under the hot summer Southern California sun, and as I recall someone telling me that there are more and more people attending every year. That is a recipe for a slightly claustrophobic Stephanie...

I have this secret desire to cosplay my favorite anime character myself, but I am too shy to do it. However, if I rally enough friends who will commit to go as a group with me, then I will cosplay for AX 2010!

Who do I want to cosplay as? My favorite character from my favorite manga/anime of all time, of course! Osaki Nana from NANA!


Mika Nakashima acting as Nana couldn't be any more appropriate in the live action movie. She's so gorgeous!


I have a small interest in punk culture in its entirety. Aside from that fact, I love Nana's personality and character. Looking and having punk-ness flowing through her veins, she is a badass chick with a voice that can move crowds; an overall strong female figure... Underneath that appearance is a woman who is a lover to the man she loves, a friend who does not judge her friends but supports them no matter the circumstance, and can be vulnerable just like any girl.

I found many good Nana cosplayer photos, and they have inspired me to start. The only thing that irks me is that I'd probably have to go buy a wig for Nana's bob, or I'd do it the easy way and cut my own hair... She has a porcelain white complexion, VERY skinny, and piercing eyes. Eesh, sounds like it's going to be difficult.


So I want to dress like a (poser, if you will) punk girl, and let's say Nana is out of the picture, especially with those issues. My second choice would be Misa Amane from Death Note (one of my favorite manga/anime).

She is what I would describe as a cross between an angelic and gothic/punk girl. She is blond in the anime and manga series, but in the live action movie, she is portrayed with Asian black hair (by the adorable Erika Toda!). Misa is an idol who is popular with her sweet and cute appearance... except no one realizes that she also has a death notebook, and a dark past.

Erika Toda!


Her outfit looks like it would resemble that of what Nana wears. Look at her hair, look at her bangs. She is adorable. This cosplayer is the best I've seen on Google Images!


Decisions, decisions! :( It's okay though, I have one year to decide what I should dress up as!

My question for you is, what is YOUR favorite anime/manga/character? Sailormoon used to be my number 1 favorite as a child. As I started to branch out as I got older, I got into the more mature stuff. Nevertheless, I love the shoujo genre!

If you guys enjoy watching Asian dramas, NANA is like a drama infused with music and not your average girl-falls-in-love-with-boy kind of protagonists. WATCH IT!! Lots of mature themes too, mrawr! ;)

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Nails of the week: Inspired by watching the lovely Narita's youtube channel. Lots of nail tutorials, go check it out!


Strawberry cream danish from Little Crescent after going to the dentist. Delicious stuff, and the cream had a light hint of almond... very delicious!!


Eerie picture of Oscar with a shadow casted over his face. Still a cutie though.

Happy June!

I could go for a delicious cupcake (or six cupcakes) right about now...

In the midst of packing, cramming for finals and whatnot, I find myself quite relaxed from all that tension. It is almost that time of the school year when I pack all of my belongings here for my journey back home. I've only got a couple of weeks left here until the Spring quarter ends. Heck, the desk in my room, stand, and wire rack has already returned home. The rest of the stuff is going in Sterlite storage bins, all ready and packed for Fall quarter. And because I have no furniture left, I am using a storage bin as my laptop platform right as we speak (or type). Talk about ghetto living! I just hope I don't develop carpal tunnel in the future from typing un-ergonomically. /knocks on wood.

Yesterday, my parents announced to us (my siblings and I) that they were planning a trip to Canada. The reason? My grandmother is aging... so it's best that we go visit her! Besides, I haven't been in Canada in a couple of years, lest visiting my family there in about four years! If you guys haven't visited the country before, I highly suggest it. It'll be the closest a person can get to pristine nature. This time, since I'm over the age of 18, I look forward to ice wine tasting, Banff hot springs, and being a tourist in the Ice Fields of Alberta! I also want to go to this mall in Vancouver that has this store named Stitches so I can buy $2 clothing! Woot. Now I wish I had a DSLR camera to capture the beauty of nature... one can only dream.

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As a past time, I enjoy watching Asian dramas (which girl doesn't?). The ones I'm currently watching are "Atashsinchi no Danshi (Japanese)" and "Boys Over Flowers (Korean)." I used to be a hugeeee Japanese dorama junkie, but not so much anymore because I don't have as much downtime as I used to. "Boys Over Flowers" is a Korean adaptation of the original Japanese "Hana Yori Dango." I personally enjoyed the Japanese one more, but the Korean one has different plots and filler stories so that prolongs the drama a little (typical Korean drama).

I took a stroll down Memory Lane and decided to re-watch Sailor Moon. I absolutely ADORE(d) Sailor Moon!!! I was watching the dubbed version (the version they used to air on American television) and it was so bad haha. If you listen closely, Luna has an accent of an old British maid; Molly has a Brooklyn accent; and so forth. I suppose as one grows older, he/she will start to notice all the little details that he/she missed as a child. As children, we were so naive, huh?

My favorite Sailor Scout was Sailor Uranus/Tenoh Haruka/Amara. Why? Because she's a tomboy and she kicks major Negaverse ass. She's a lesbian, but I don't judge. Who is your favorite?

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Look of the evening...?

My go-to look doesn't consist of lots of makeup; I just fill in my ever-so-light brows and ocassionally some light blush and mascara. Unfortunately, I don't always have the time to do a full application. But this is an example of how I would look like with more stuff one ;) Camera ho time!

So fresh and so cleannn~


And then ta-daa!


I'm jumping on the beauty blogging bandwagon, if you didn't already notice. The majority of my lovely readers are beauty bloggers, so it's fair right? Are they REALLY here for food? Who knows! You guys tell me.

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Thank you to those who have already participated in my giveaway!! You guys rock!

Don't forget to join my giveaway! I'll be really sad if there aren't more people participating so don't leave me hanging!

Can you really resist those eyes?

zomg no wai.

I created a tumblr account to post (interesting/inspirational/aesthetic) photographs/quotes/text of the day. If you like the pictures I take on this blog, then you'll probably like the pictures on my tumblr. http://haisteph.tumblr.com.

And since I'm waiting for a certain someone to arrive, I shall use my time wisely!

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First as always, cute doggy pictures!

Oscar and Bobo (Munmun's brother) frolicking in my backyard.

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Last night, I was browsing through my old albums of pictures that were stashed within lots of folders and came across photos of my adolescent days. For fun, I zoomed in on one of the pictures with a clear shot of the skin on my face and I gasped (roommate then gave me a weird stare); not because I thought the picture was horrendous, but because my skin was so terrible back in the days!

Not that I'm saying that my skin is totally perfect, and I do have those bad skin days when I just break out (especially when Aunt Flo is visiting). I can honestly say (and my friends can agree with me on this) that my skin is so much more clearer than my adolescent days. I think it's partially due to hormones being stabilized, better skin care, and better dieting.

Beware! Pictures of my face LOL. Click on the pictures to zoom in, if you dare!

Before


After


Notice the huge difference? Hehehe I am happy! I must say that the honey-aspirin mask worked for me really well! It got rid of most of my blemishes/scars and such.


I've had acne-ridden skin ever since the fifth grade. It's been over ten years now, and I'm so glad that I'm way past that stage in my life when I was (secretly) insecure about my bad skin. I remember classmates used to make negative references to my skin, and now that it's cleared up, karma bit them in the butt. Yes, they ended up getting acne hehehehe! Who says karma isn't real?

Do You Like Fishsticks?

I've been thinking about topics to blog about, and I would usually blog about my week. I don't want another typical recollection of the activities I've done over the week, but some with some thought and depth. Unless those topics get too boring to read, the I don't know. Blogging like this isn't really challenging/improving my writing skills, so what now?

I'm thinking of making a tumblr.com account because I have so many photos to post along with their descriptions, that it seems to make perfect sense to create one. I am a lazy person, and I'd rather post pretty pictures with a sentence-long description, rather than typing out a whole story (hence my weekly postings).

Who takes the time to read every word anyway?
It's okay, this is for my own reference, for when I want to browse through this blog a few years from now. By then, most likely, I'll probably have another new blog in the future (maybe when I graduate from school?). This is me, for this period of time anyway.

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My group of friends and I surprised two birthday girls with tickets to the Britney Spears concert this past Friday at the Staples Center. They were (obviously) ecstatic! I wish we could've joined them, but these tickets were first of all expensive, and hard to get.

We took them out to dinner at Little Fat Sheep, which was a place for northern Chinese hot pot. It was my first time there; as I walked into the restaurant, it smelled like faintly like Chinese herbal medicine. Later did I know that they add Chinese herbs into the delicious broth, so it's good for you. Despite the fact that they add the herbs in their broth, the herbs helped with the flavoring, and you'll be drinking the broth knowing that it's good for you!


For an Asian restaurant, their customer service was pretty good. The staff was attentive, so thumbs up for that!

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My desserts-run friend Wasin and I went to Old Town Pasadena to try some Dots Cupcakes. When we walked into the cramped contemporary-styled (isn't every trendy bakery?), there was a strong tantilizing aroma of a mixture of cream, vanilla, and flour; I didn't mind it. The cupcakes that were on display were really adorable; some had a flower-shaped fondant sprinkle placed in the center, some had regular jimmies on them. Of course, the frosting on each cupcake was decoratively spread in a tiered layer (look at the pictures for reference). We ordered red velvet, vanilla chocolate, apple pie, and strawberry shortcake. After ordering these cakes, the cashier gave us cute "bambü" forks for us to pick on our portable desserts.



Dots carries a supply of mini-sized cupcakes ($1.50) and regular-sized cupcakes ($2.75). Don't let the cute packaging and decorations fool you! Dots is no Sprinkles, if you prefer your cupcakes rich and moist. The frosting on red velvet was quite creamy (I'd prefer my cream cheese frosting with more of cream cheese taste), but the overall cake(s) (including its taste and texture) was just like any American cake.

I personally don't enjoy eating American cake in large amounts, for the cake is usually 1) dry and rough like overcooked chicken breast, and 2) too sweet (for me to say that, it's saying something). Dots cakes aren't very rich, meaning after one cupcake you'd be ready for the next one. If you don't like rich-flavored cakes, then Dots is probably for you.

Next up my non-existant "Things to Try" list is My Sweet Cupcake, which is conveniently located near my local Trader Joe's. I am having high hopes for that one!

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I don't know if I mentioned this in earlier posts, but I talk to my mother everyday, whether she calls me before I call her.

I've been home for two weeks in a row since last weekend, by the way. I called call her yesterday (Monday) afternoon because I had just finished class for the day and was walking to the trolley stop. She picked up, and asked "Aww do you miss mommy already?" Trying to hold in a smile, I immediately said "n-n-no! I don't miss you! You'll just yell at me for not calling you tomorrow!"

Mother: "Are you coming home this weekend as well? Ha ha!"
Me: "Nah, I'm not coming home-" (hears Father joke in background) "Stop coming home!! I don't want to drive you back every weekend!"
Mother: "Yeah, your dad is tired. It's okay, no matter what I love you my oldest baby!"
Me: -holding in a smile- "Aww Mommm! Okay byeee!"

I do miss my parents. They're weird, but I love them.

Snack Attack!

Follow me on Twitter, if you haven't already. I update Twitter much more frequently than this blog. Join the hype, if you haven't already! ;)

Who wants to read anything about a person's school life anyway? You, of course (because that's what you're doing right now)! And at every beginning of a new quarter, I like to make little goals and resolutions for myself (in hopes that I'll keep them).

I believe all I want to accomplish this quarter is to establish better habits, and not just for academics. Of course, I have to manage my time better by utilizing my down time more efficiently, which means less time on Facebook, blog browsing (yes, believe it or not, I do it a LOT), and media, respectively. I need to develop healthier eating habits, meaning decreasing my sugar-encrusted/sugar-saturated foods intake, and more fresh/non-processed food whenever possible (or at least til summer begins). I also have to tidy up my room by not tossing clothes (but it's hard when I want to get out of my jeans, and into my jammies) all around the bedroom. So far, I can say that I've been watching my sugar intake, and having healthier breakfasts to start my day off by consuming oatmeal, whole fruits (or fresh fruit juice), and drinking green tea for caffeine intake on those groggy days. What a great start!

Another one is to finally purchase a collegiate sweater. I've got that done on Thursday! Now apparently medium size is too small, and if I washed the sweater, it would shrink (as my self-confidence has). I'm going to exchange it for a large on Monday. Despite the fact that I'm going to be needing a large-sized sweater, the design itself is fitted for a woman's body so I'm not complaining!

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I love my schedule for this quarter. On Fridays, I have class with my roommate from 10AM-11AM, and then I'm free for the rest of the day. Unfortunately for her, she had class afterwards, but with 3 hours to spare before the next class started, we walked back to the apartment. We made some breakfast which comprised of an omlette made with tomatoes, onions, and mushrooms, and toast. After our meal, she was packing for her trip back home for the weekend, and I sat in front of my laptop, planning on how I was going to spend the weekend. I looked up for some j-dorama to watch, but alas no luck. Then I looked up some new anime that I would be interested in watching, and I had found one! It's called Skip Beat, which was about a girl planning her revenge on a guy who used her for his benefit by being better at what he's achieved, which was to be famous. It's really funny and cute, but it lacks a bit of romance, but we see that romance heightens towards the end of the season. I can't wait for season two! For now, I'll just read ahead in the anime hehe.

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I woke up at around 11AM, and laid in bed for another hour while playing Scramble on my iPod (it's an awesome game/application, by the way). I had a craving for some ice cream and snacks, and after realizing that I lacked snacks, I made a run to Stater Bros. I came home with a box of orange creamsicle, strawberry shortcake, ice cream sandwiches, P'Nuttles, Whoppers (Kylie got me craving for some, THANKS.), fruit snacks, Sunny D, brownie mix, and non-dairy creamer. Rawr snack attack! But before I indulged in my new snacks, I made lunch for myself, which was BBQ pork and jasmine rice. Lucky for me, my mom portioned my side dishes for the week conveniently in ziploc bags (one ziploc per meal). Thank you mom!

I also re-watched Zhang Yimou's Hero, just because I was suddenly interested in colorful movie cinematography (and my art history professor was talking about it the other day). Back in 2002 when the movie first came out, I didn't fully understand what the movie's plot/story was about, but after watching it again today, I was enlightened! At the same time, I was in awe from the choices of colors used in each scene. If one were to observe carefully, the king and his subjects are all dressed in shades of black, as well as the structures that the king were in. The couple's costumes change, depending on the storyteller's point of view -- from red (for intensity and evoking emotions that include love, lust, jealousy, anger, etc.), to green (symbolizing the king's realization of Jet Li's assassination attempt, therefore the king's enlightenment), to pale blue/white (Jet Li revealing the truth, as well as the color worn for mourning the deceased). As you may have realized, thought-provoking films really interest me because I enjoy making these types of interpretations from my observations. Anyway, I digress. I really suggest watching Zhang Yimou movies, if you haven't already, such as House of the Flying Daggers. /drool Kaneshiro Takeshi.

So what do I have planned this evening? Nothing much really; chilling at my apartment, relax with music, reading Skip Beat manga , enjoy dinner and then snacktime! Probably squeeze in some assigned reading, but that can probably wait til tomorrow (evening).

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Pasta salad Wednesday evening. Made with freshly boiled pasta, tomatoes, julienned basil, salt & pepper to taste, fat free Italian dressing, sprinkled with parmasean cheese.

Saturday BBQ pork and rice. DELICIOUS. I felt carnivorous and didn't feel like eating greens. It's okay, oatmeal makes up for my daily fiber ;)

My sister sent me a photo of Munmun and Oscar sleeping together.

Woven bracelets with Swarovski beads, one of many of my neglected hobbies (I abandoned this hobby in the 10th grade). I found these upon cleaning up my storage bins. I wanna get rid of them. Should I attempt to sell them? LOL.


Happy Saturday! And enjoy the rest of your weekend!

My Sweet Tooth Needed Attention So...

I dream of the remnants of last week as its lasting effects still linger. It was truly one of the best spring breaks I've had, mainly because I wasn't at home being idle, and it also allowed me to form some revelations. Last year, I was stuck with jury duty for six days during my spring break. I got to see most of my friends, unfortunately not all of my friends. For that, I am sorry. Because there was never an idle moment, I didn't have period of a couple of hours to blog, however I wanted to because it would be one huge post if I were to post about my week all in one post. And that's what I'm gonna do.

I call this spring break my Delicious Journey, a name that was inspired from a JustKiddingFilms video. I had the need to satisfy my sweet tooth, just because I didn't have my sugar fix for weeks (I've had natural sources of sugar from fruit and juice, not that I'm complaining). I was surprised that I didn't end up with diabetes by the end of the week. Just kidding, I hope that will never happen /knock on wood. I also got to catch up with my J-doramas "Love Shuffle" and "Mei-chan no Shitsuji," both of which I highly recommend to watch. I even got to peek at some manga, alas they weren't finished with scanlating the manga.

Weekends are negligent because they are my usual dessert days.

Monday: Guppy House with the "Guppy Special" with two friends. Before dessert, they had 50 Din Tai Fung dumplings. Can you say piggies?


We ended up finishing everything, except the bottle of condensed milk. :)

An actual guppy! :O


Tuesday: A small sleepover at my house; we went to Ralph's to get some ice cream to go with our brownies and movie. We ended up watching "The House Bunny." Went to bed by 4AM. Regretably, no photos

Wednesday: Lunch with a friend in Pasadena at Sushiya. We obviously had some sushi and went for the all-you-can-eat deal. We arrived too late, so we ordered from the menu. Luckily we did because the bill ended up being cheaper than one person's price for the all-you-can-eat deal. We had Taiwanese shaved ice for dessert at Bin Bin Konjac.

I probably watched dorama that night.


Thursday: The official "Dessert Run" day with my two buddies. We drove to Santa Monica for Sprinkles Cupcakes, but before dessert we had lunch at Panini Cafe. They made delicious non-greasy looking paninis that tasted really fresh. Afterwards, we went next door to Sprinkles and purchased a dozen cupcakes (split, of course). Let me describe the cupcake, it is absolutely phenomenal! The cake itself isn't very sweet, but rich in flavor. That means you have to eat the cake with its icing in order to balance out the sweetness. Being so moist and rich-tasting, it is definitely filling. You might find yourself eating four of these a day if you're not careful!

We drove up to Topanga Canyon for scenic stops. For being a resident of LA my whole life, I had no idea such scenery existed. The most foliage I've ever seen in one area in LA is either in a large recreational park, or a nursery. Until that day, the only scenic routes that I've seen were the ones in northern California's I-5, Oregon, Washington, so forth. I had a brief high when we were going up the mountain (large hill?). After we left the hill, we stopped by the beach for 10 minutes for pictures. I wish we could have stayed longer, but it was too cold for the beach.

After we got back home, a friend was dropped off, and my remaining friend accompanied me to go return something I ordered from the Body Shop online. After I returned the items, I realized that they overlooked the fact that I used a 10% off from my membership card, so I earned about $5. With that, I treated my friend to some yogurt from Yogurtland.

I probably spent the night watching dorama. Ahh bliss.

He had Hello Kitty Band-Aids in his glove compartment!








Mmm, red velvet with cream cheese frosting.

Topanga Canyon




My first bite!



Friday: I had a hot date with Miss Kylie (visit her at kiitzyy.blogspot.com!), who is a real friend of mine. We had lunch at Bamboodles, caught up, and of course chatted about makeup! She surprised me with a gift bag full of goodies. (RAWR! I'll getchu back just you wait!) I showed her a little place in my city where the local makeup junkies purchase discount MAC items. She totally fell head over heels for the little shop. Teehee I'm glad she enjoyed it! Too bad our date was short; she had to go to work. I can't wait for our next outing!

Later that evening, I had to go to Irvine for a potluck-ish kind of hang out at a friend's apartment. I brought my mom's southeast Asian chicken curry. Mmm.. that night we had really yummy food. I wish I took pictures, but I was too lazy to. Dorothy was taking photos all night so I'll mooch off of that. Got home at 2AM, and I just knocked out.

Isn't she lovely?! :) She looks so tiny compared to the bowl!! <33 href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/SU5dw5gfpNYJ1BsBEka7LA?authkey=Gv1sRgCPTpy8y245zkggE&feat=embedwebsite">
Spicy Beef Stew with Spinach noodles.

Spicy Wontons

Me and the noodle maker LOL. He was bouncing on the noodle dough on that bamboo stick. It was a sight to see!



Saturday: I woke up early in the morning and ran errands with my mother. Saturday morning/early afternoons are usually my busy hours because I have to buy groceries for my apartment (Asian supermarkets, for the win!), go to the bank, hang out with my mom, etc. I rolled about 100 eggrolls in a period of 2 hours /bow. Of course, I brought some with me to my apartment.

Later that evening, I met up with my friend for a long overdue play date. We ate at Sin Bala for Taiwanese food because I didn't want to eat something that was heavy in oil and grease. After that, we went to his friend's house to play Apples to Apples. He hangs out with the dorkiest people, but they were really cool. What's also funny, is that the friend happens to live about 3 blocks away from my home, and I've never seen him in my life.


Sunday: Finally, the day I've dreaded the whole week. The end of my "journey."

While packing, I looked through my dusty old Sterlite storage boxes and came across a residue of my tendency for leaving short-term projects: making jewelery out of Swarovski crystals. I have so many bracelets, earrings, findings, and the crystal beads themselves left over that I don't know what to do with them.

My dad dropped me off at 3PM.

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Honestly, I've never missed home like this before. Until recently, I thought about how nice it was to live away from home, to be away from everything. With this mentality, I thought I could be independent. I can read this blog's first post and see how my perspective has transitioned to the way I am now. In ways, I can be that independent girl I aim to be; however there are times when I feel so vulnerable, that I get a tendency to attach myself to something that is strongly reinforced and permanent, for example, my parents' unconditional love and support. In times when I feel like a lost child, my parents, no matter how much they nag you, no matter how much they scold you, no matter how much they call you just to check up on you; in the end, their love for their children is the only thing in this world that is solid and certain.

Although last quarter was not an enjoyable one, I'm glad that experience did not ruin my spring break. I can sort of transcend from that. I'm glad I have somewhat recuperated from a period of despair and overwhelming stress. I'm glad that I have such colorful, wonderful things in my life that (will) keep me from falling hard into the dirt, such as my family, friends, and two cute little dogs. For that reason, I feel guilty for occassionally uttering (it's a daily phrase nowadays) "fuck my life," generally because I don't really mean it. I love my life, but I really hate the situation that's going on in my life. (FYI, I started to say FML after I watched Superbad last year before it got viral). One should say, "fuck my situation" instead.

What I'm trying to get across to you, my reader, is please consider what you're saying when you say "fuck my life," especially if you really don't mean it. Nowadays, it's being used in vain (thanks to a certain viral site). Think about it this way: I said "fuck my life" in front of my cousin one day, and he snapped at me and said "Hey! Don't say that, I'm in your life!" Oh I love my cousins.

Maybe after being deep in this comprehensive thought, I've come to a conclusion that I've developed a slight separation anxiety from home, or to blatantly state it, homesickness. I figured it's a normal occurence, but normal to me? Heck, I'm the type of person who won't call home after being a month away from home! What's happening to me?

To finally conclude this long post, I shall post pictures of my cute little dogs as a relief from my emo-ness.



I hope everyone enjoyed their spring break, or maybe you haven't started yours yet. Look forward to doing productive things!