CAUTION: GIRLY

Funny story: I seem to notice that blogging helps me to get "in the mood" to study. Blogging is quite possibly the most effective form of procrastination. Here's how:

• It puts off work (as it is supposed to)
• Everyone else will think you're working
  
• It gets you in the "heigh-ho" kind of mode, making you want to work (maybe it's because I just LOVE typing, and played Typing Tutor for fun for days and days on end).

Moving on, as the blog title says, this post is going to be girlier than most. Throughout the days I've come to realise that I have a rather sizable collection of shoes, blazers, and accessories (my biggest addictions). I've come to realise, however, that when it comes to bags, I seem to rotate between only two or three (my red Longchamp, my Burberry clutch, and my black Aldo bag).

There's a reason for this, though. It's not that I dislike bags. I love bags and I wish I had more of them. Unfortunately, there are some things that get in the way: namely, my wallet. Unlike my slightly (operative word: slightly) more frugal counterpart, Yvonen, I can't buy cheap bags/shoes. The motto "quality over quantity" is so deeply ingrained in me that it pains me to shop in night markets and flea shops (the case is different for clothes and jewelery, which I percieve as significantly more dispensable than bags or shoes). Heck, I can't make myself buy bags or shoes from Forever 21, Zara, MNG. Sadly, it seems that when it comes to bags or shoes, I'm a total snob: if it's not designer, it's not worth it. Wow, I am a snob/brat.

So I'm sure you can assure that my motto has led me to rotate between two or three bags, because I don't have any. Zero. Zip. Nada. I have four clutch bags, all of which I absolutely love. Unfortunately, enter Culture Shock No. 184625: no one here wears clutches. I love clutch bags. People need to wear them more. That's for nighttime, though. My daytime bag selection gets worse: have two bags that I can actually use on a daily basis: my two Longchamps. Wow. Variety?

So I've been going on a bag hunt. If you have any good suggestions, I'd be glad to take them. Here's the bag I've been eyeing for the past two years: The Jimmy Choo Saba.


I saw the white one first, and then researched a little bit more and found that beautiful, buttery black suede one. If I ever get a change to get this bag, worth around USD 3500, I might tempted to get the Zebra print one instead of the black one--it seems more versatile.



Or if I wanted to be really pretentious, the pink suede one (note that if I had an extra USD 3K with me, I would be very, very tempted to get this one).



If you have suggestions as to which of these bags I should get IF I EVER DO/other bags that are good for everyday wear, please leave a comment. The bag hunt continues!

And so should the studying.

Damn you, finals week.

A More Accurate Depiction of Where (and How) I Live

Remember the start of the year, when we, fresh as fresh could be (fresh out of high school, college freshmen, fresh off the boat...), bravely, excitedly, and (rather hastily) moved into each of our individual dorms? Seems so long yet so short ago, doesn't it? We bought boxes, decorated our rooms with photos of the good old days, fixed our desk, and, of course, showed all our hard work off by posting photos of our new homes on Facebook.

It's a well-known fact that I'm not a very neat person. My excuse is that I like to keep things exciting. I decided to never post up photos because I knew--I KNEW--that it would not stay the same.

So here, ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Thurston Hall's very own 618 (my part of it, at least). We're messy, we're disgusting, we don't know where our floor went. What you gonna do about it?

Bed area--the place where no man (or woman) can sleep. I keep all my shoes under my bed. Thus, there is no more storage space under my bed. Since when did "under the bed" run out of space?

Desk?? What Desk?? That's right, I don't study on my desk. I study in the library. Guess where I sleep. Good guess.

Culture Shock No. 893176

Thanks to my mom's flying in for the Thanksgiving weekend, I was graced with the opportunity to spend my first Thanksgiving (ever) in the lovely state of California with my family from West Hills. I'm glad to say that although the weather was not as warm and sunny as I had imagined it to be, it was certainly a good change from the cold, wet, and generally miserable DC weather. That never helped anyone.

Sometime throughout our trip (Black Friday, if I remember correctly) , we were given the task of finding fried chicken. KFC was closed, so I was graced with another first-time experience. Behold, Popeye's.


Of course, we ordered the normal: chicken, potatoes, gravy, and, as suggested by the brand's description, biscuits.


I'm not going to argue that one of us is right and another is wrong--it's just as futile as the football/soccer, toh-may-toe/toh-mah-toe argument; but I must say that I was shocked to find that "biscuits" bore a dangerous resemblance to a delectable tea-time snack: the scone (albeit significantly flakier).


As stubborn as I am, however, I will make it clear to all that this is my perception of the 'cookie' world:

Crackers

Biscuits

Dog Biscuit (do you call them "dog crackers"? Thought so.
THOSE THINGS AREN'T BISCUITS)

Cookies

Oreo
A product so universal, so mind-blowing,
so versatile, it is a term on its own.

"Party" and "OMGWTFCRACK"

An eventful morning followed a very interesting night this weekend, which I believe can be separated into two distinct sagas. They could easily be called "rushing" and "random adventure", but for accuracy's sake, I'll name them "rush" and "omgwtfcrack".

Before taking off for the night, a friend of mine invited me for a night of chill with him and his roommate and some other awesome people from the 9th storey (I'm stubborn, so I prefer to call it the 8th since we don't have a ground floor, but a 1st. Ground and 1st should be two completely different storeys altogether). Of course I declined, so off we went.

Unfortunately I am in no place to hold, utilise, or even be in the near vicinity of a camera. Despite my love for photos I do not have a camera, for reasons that, if you know me well enough, you will know why. I didn't take photos during the Rush half of my night, but despite that, it doesn't mean I didn't have fun. It was my first time out in DC (carrying around a passport: not as creepy as it seems), and I really enjoyed hanging out with the sorority sisters and frat brothers. Good times indeed. And a good night is always topped off with a "smoked Manouch dog with GW sauce". Yeah we got like 16 of those, making the long line to Manouch seem ridiculously longer. Sorry bout that.

After getting back at 4ish, being the awkw

ard social person I am, I texted the friend who invited me to chill. Two hours of making fun of his roommate/looking at photos of Suri Cruise/surfing /b/ later, the OMGWTFCRACK saga of the story slowly began.

Marice: HEY LET'S GO WATCH THE SUNRISE.

Chris: Okay. It's up in an hour.

M: Oh okay. We can wait downstairs for an hour.

*goes downstairs*

M: It's cold and there's a building blocking the East.

C: Oh. Then let's walk past the building then.

M: It's cold.

C: Then let's go back and get you a sweat--

M: NO. I'M MANNING UP. I'M GOING TO M

AN. UP.

C: Are you--

M: YES, I AM SURE. We're just going to go like three blocks anyway.

BIG MISTAKE.

One block down we spotted a bunch of fallen acorns, and promptly decided that whoever could find the biggest acorn won (I won).

Two blocks down, we crossed the building, but the Washington monument sure looked tempting. So I suggested we go watch the sunrise from the Washington Monument. On the way, we played acorn basketball (Marice: LET'S SEE WHO CAN SHOOT THE MOST ACORNS INTO THE NEAREST TRASH BIN.)

So there, the Washington Monument. Isn't it grand?

This made my day.

Sunrise!

C: LET'S GO TO THE CAPITOL BUILDING. We're here anyway.

Protip: Just because the National Mall is a straight line DOESN'T MEAN that it's a short walk.

A squirrel we stalked because we thought it was albino. In hindsight, it was neither cool nor albino.

I'm not able to include the other cracktastic things from this OMGWTFCRACK saga of the story (i.e. the botanical garden, the flat 3D house, the concession stands, the bird poo, the dumb jokes), but I think you get the point haha.

And here we are, the Capitol Building. :D

We made it! The eyeliner hints at the fact that I just went out.

Also, I'm still freezing because I am still wearing shorts, flipflops, and a T-shirt.

9:30: Marice falls asleep.

16:00: Marice wakes up.

NEXT ADVENTURE: STUDYING ON THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL STEPS

Marice's FOBalicious Adventures

It's been a fun adventure here in the land of the free. I know I should've started this earlier, but I'll try to keep a list of fun and amusing things I've seen and heard during my freshman year here. :)

Friday, 18 September 2009

DISCOVERIIIESSS

• You can pay for metro/movie tickets with a credit card?!
• You need IDs to get into clubs...yeah I forgot.
• I JUST FOUND OUT THAT OUR MIRROR OPENS UP
• "I'm from the Philippines" is a legitimate excuse to be socially awkward. Don't know how long that'll hold up.
• What's a vapouriser?
• How to eat string cheese (so you DON'T just bite it off?)
• Do you know how Trader Joe's is a brand in itself? The label for their tofu is not "Trader Joe's", but "Trader Joe San's". :|
• I'm no longer a pro at mass. How do I use these books?! And they don't even follow the sheet music. And wtf is this Nicene Creed?
• You don't reply to "Hey how are ya?"
• I'm getting better with this whole coin system.
• Using the grid system is great, with streets named after letters and numbers, but when you get a street named after a state, you're pretty much fucked.
• Don't be afraid to hi-5 the priest.
• Stay on the RIGHT side of the escalator

As a student...

• Moving into the dorm is...hectic. Moving in really isn't as fun as it sounds. Decorating was supposed to be fun, but as of now there is this white wall right next to me.
• Walking all the way to Adams Morgan to get my roommate a tattoo...and failing.
• Being caught by UPD. Whoops.
• Getting "emerged" (not EMeRGed)...meaning pushing me around the hall in a little grocery cart thing.
• Missing class. Stupid alarm clock.
• Skyping with friends. :) I guess I only appreciate the friends I have when they're far away huh?
• In order to save money on utensils, I bring home food and steal chopsticks and soy sauce from the Chinese restaurant on campus.
• So you can't just switch a phone's SIM cards to use a new network...
• Brita saves you $$$
• Using Blackboard is a real pain. >:|
• Nati Lite: it tastes better as you drink more of it. When it tastes good, you know you're trashed.

More to come!

Bored

Facebook is the best potential for a crackfest when you're bored and have no access to an actual crackfest (not that i do drugs, oh no).

Caruma

Here lies proof that Marice knows nothing about cars.

Situation: Our Mazda CX-9 has finally come back from repair after a pretty tragic AWD (Asian Woman Driver) Accident.

Wilson (my bodyguard): Mazda is back.
Me: Masuda? Who's Mr. Masuda?
W: No, it's back from repair.
Me: Why? Did something happen to him?

On a final note, I would find it pretty amusing if the founder of Mazda is promptly named Masuda.