Finding Neverland

i watched that movie last night since it was on one of the movie channels. i can't remember when i really watched it last, but i know it's been a while.

i don't really like watching it because it's sad and makes me cry, but i kind of forced myself to watch it last night because it's a really nice story and has that whole, Peter Pan thing going on. sure enough, i started crying at some parts that a normal person probably wouldn't cry at. maybe because i knew what was going to happen and how it would end. i was pretty much sobbing at the end of the movie.

watching it again last night made me realize how beautiful of a movie it really is. i guess i just really like the whole Neverland and Peter Pan concept. i like certain movies of Peter Pan better than others, though. for example, the classic disney animated one is cute, but kind of annoying at some points. tinkerbell is a straight up bitch for the most part (i like her personality more in the newer Tinkerbell movies, before she meets peter pan...although i do want to see some story of how they meet). i really liked the live-action movie of peter pan with jeremy sumpter. yeah, he was cute and all, but i liked it for more than that. i liked how it seemed a bit more "real" and raw with the costumes and set of neverland. i've only seen Hook once and i can't remember most of it. i might've fallen asleep or just not paid attention. those who've seen it say it's really good (and are usually shocked when i say i haven't seen it/don't really like it) and i'm sure if i took the time to watch it, i'd like it too. hm, i can't think of any other peter pan stories...

but yeah, finding neverland is really good. i might be more partial to it because of a few things though. the time and place is very old and i love looking at the fashion (after a quick search, it takes place in london, 1903). i think the title is also really nice and simple. and just the overall child-likeness of johnny depp's character, j.m. barrie, makes it enjoyable.

clearly i have nothing bad to say about this movie and am just going to start repeating myself. but i wanted to write about something regarding it.

on my list of things to do before i die, i have "meet peter pan and go to neverland". i kind of had this thought in the back of my head that when i finally get to see neverland, it'll be in the same way that kate winslet's character, sylvia, did. which is basically dying. kind of morbid, i know. but i can add, "to die would be an awfully big adventure" to the end of that and make it not so depressing. i was already ecstatic when i went to london and walked through kensington gardens and hyde park and saw the peter pan statue.

okay, i think i'm done. bye!

happy valentine's day! ♥♥♥

happy hearts day!!!

this is the day i get to overkill in hearts, pinks, girlyness, and chocolate. not that i don't do those things normally, but on this day, i like to combine ALL of it together so it's pretty obvious i'm excited about the occasion. for example, i did my nails last night!

valentine nails~

(and yeah...i don't have the Japan entry or the ALA entry up yet. don't count on it [for all one of you who -might- read my blog] since i'm too lazy and i want to blog about other things)

so me and george already had our valentine's day dinner on saturday when he came over and we cooked a delicious meal. but you know, you can't -not- do anything on the actual day, so we're probably going to dinner at the original fish company. i also have a little surprise for him. hehe, i'll take a picture when i give it to him and post it next time. anyways, here's a little update of yesterday.

i started my first day at el camino yesterday. it was weird. i panicked looking for parking (as usual) but found a spot with plenty of time to calm down and relax. the teacher was about 15 mins late for my first class. we were all standing in the hallway, thinking the same thing. "where the hell is our teacher?! there's no note...the class isn't cancelled, is it??" at about 11:15, a woman, who i assumed was the teacher, comes down the hall and lets us in. i take a seat in the back and then i hear a booming male voice, "hello! good morning!" and i'm thinking that is -not- the teacher's voice...then i see her signing and notice the man up front is an interpreter.

so for my deaf cultures class, my teacher is profoundly deaf and we have two interpreters for the whole semester. it was definitely interesting trying to watch her and catch what signs i recognized. also took a mental note to try and sit closer or towards the ends of the rows so i can see her sign. we don't need to know sign for the class. she just happens to be a deaf teacher. i also won't know if i'm in the class or not until tomorrow. about 5 people didn't show up, but she has to wait until the second class to drop them and add people from the waitlist. i don't even know what number i am on the waitlist. i kind of wish she went through some of the top names or something.

my second class is already a lot more intense seeming. it's intermediate sign language. i don't know "how deaf" our teacher is and i couldn't catch from her story is she was born deaf or not. i couldn't really understand about half of what she said. she signed faster than i'm used to and used a lot of signs i wasn't familiar with. she seems nice though. she told us to raise our hands if we didn't understand her. even if we keep raising our hands, one after the other, taking up a lot of time, she doesn't care. she wants us to understand her and to learn. hopefully i'll be able to learn a lot from the class.

i was also on waitlist for this class. two people didn't show up and she added 4 people from the waitlist. i was the last name she called and those who didn't get called couldn't be added. lucky!!! i'm so glad i at least got into one class.

anyways, i'm already kind of nervous about the projects for the asl class. one of them is to attend a deaf event and interact with one deaf person. the first event i thought of was Deaf Day at Disneyland. i've never been (not that i know of at least, although i think i was one year because i saw A LOT of ppl signing) and i don't know how i would go about talking to a deaf person. especially since i'm so inexeperienced and don't want to seem like an idiot to someone. but that would be a fun since i go to disneyland a lot anyway. i just want to go with someone who knows sign too...i wonder if i'll make a friend (or even aquaintance) in the class. oh yeah! we're not allowed to use our voice in the class. which, you know, makes sense and all...but since i'm used to just talking to my classmates, asking "how do you sign" or "what's..." not being able to talk seems like it'll take twice as long to communicate with everyone. @_@

okay, bye! ♥

Backstreet Boys Cruise 2011

fair warning: since it took so long for me to get around to this, it's not going to be painstakingly detailed as it could be (which is a good thing since it'll cut it down to about 1/2 of what it could've been) but it probably will be more detailed than you care for it to be. 

after first finding out about the cruise early last year, i was determined to go. i got really lucky that Christine liked the Backstreet Boys just as much and was just as willing to go. we started planning and booked our cabin and paid the deposit around april when the booking first started (literally. we were refreshing the page like crazy until we were able to get through).

fast forward to december 1st when chris spent the night and we left for LAX early the next morning to arrive in Miami later in the day. we decided it was safer to arrive the night before the cruise to avoid any complications or mishaps with our flight and transportation. so we stayed the night at the Port of Miami Holiday Inn and did nothing but eat and lounge/sleep. and while we were at the baggage claim, we spotted AJ! and since we didn't want to bother him, we became the papparazzi and took a picture of me with him conveniently in the background. then after thinking of what would be normal to say, we passed him on our way out and Chris said, "hey AJ. we're really excited for the cruise!" and he said, "thank you!"

day 1: the next morning, we took our time getting ready and started to slowly realize we were actually going on our first cruise as arrived and saw the ship, went through the boarding process and saw the ridiculous number of girls at the terminal. i felt like i was at my all-girls high school again except this was all ages. this is going to get long, so click to read the rest...

happy new year!

i should have done this before, but you know me and procrastination! anyways, happy new year! it's the year of the dragon (my mommy's year) and that means next year is year of the snake (me! and half of my friends).

i have a couple posts that should be up already, but i wanted to write about the events in my actual journal first. and since that took a long time, the blog was put on hold. but i finally finished the BSB cruise entry around christmas and i'm halfway through my Japan trip. after those i'll put up my brief review (it's not really a review, but i can't find a better word for it) of Anime LA.

so if you're interested, look out for those. i hope everyone has a wonderful 2012. i'm going to try and make sure this year is good. last year was great. plenty of happy, fun moments, and some not-so-great moments. i hope to god the bad events don't repeat. but the things that are inevitable (like my birthday), i'm determined to make much better. when i was in japan, i got an omikuji at new year's and it was dai-kichi, so i'm using that as a starting point and making sure everything is good. at least for the first month or so while i'm still feeling it xD then laziness will probably kick in.

okay, see you later!

PMX 2011

well this year's PMX was a hell of a lot better than last year's. very smart move on their part to bring it back to the LAX Hilton.

we didn't do much. there honestly wasn't much to do unless you're hardcore into anime/karaoke/buying shit. or unless you like the band, D, who performed. i've heard of them plenty of times and seen them in nearly all the magazines i've looked through. i never really bothered to listen to them though. i'm only assuming here, but i can't get into hard, metal-sounding rock. i'm more into singing than screaming. which is the reason why i can't follow dir en grey anymore. anyways, they sure had devoted fans, lining up hours before for the concert, and after for autographs. i saw them when they came out for autographs and boy are they pretty. even after a sweaty concert their curly, hairsprayed hair and caked on makeup look good.

me and my friends just kinda walked around, took a bunch of pictures and went to the dance on night 2. here are a bunch of pictures (of mostly me...what?? i didn't take any pictures of the con) well, enjoy!

hello blogger

and just like that i have a full blog on blogger/blogspot.

i just imported/exported and edited as much as i could my posts from typepad to here. so ignore it if some old posts are a little wonky. the entries actually started at Vox, which got shut down and everything automatically transferred to Typepad, which is what i've been using. i tried to start on Tumblr but then i realized it isn't really meant for actual blog entries. so since i had an account here already, i spruced up my page and voila!

see you around.

class of 2003

i was looking through old pictures to find some from a particular event, but found something even better.

look at this. we are all in the second grade (well, the majority of us. there were some 3rd graders) and just completed our First Communion.

and this was right after our graduation ceremony (in the day, for the students). we all went to the south bay galleria mall and took these pictures. we thought we were hot shit, walking around in our flowy blue gowns, because we just graduated. FROM 8TH GRADE. god, it's so embarassing to think about sometimes. i look at 8th graders now and they look like children! ugh xD

i'd post one of the most recent group shot taken in august during a last minute and impromtu reunion, but the girl whose camera it's on swears she doesn't know how to upload pictures to facebook. i'll edit this post and add it if she ever does though. i want to show the progression of everyone.

EDIT: my friend FINALLY posted the pictures!!! it only took about a year, right? =P (not really) here they are...

 that was a fun night.

btw, this is my elementary school class. 8th grade class of 2003. i always find it odd when people are so shocked that i'm still friends with my elementary school classmates. i guess it's different for public school kids. but the majority of us traveled from classroom to classroom for 8 years together. ♥