Nan_Chi's Xanga

Moving On... Moving Forward.

Fri, 26 Dec 2008 22:02:15 GMT

I've been on Xanga for a few years now. It doesn't seem like it because I keep clearing out and deleting older entries which I feel no longer represents who I am. We all change right? Change is good. ^______^

So please be redirected to my new blog.

[HERE!]

Learning and learning...

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 04:46:33 GMT

So many years later, these words still hold true. Every once in a while, I'll bring them back to keep myself going.

"After a while you learn the subtle difference between holding a hand and changing a soul. You learn that love doesn't mean possession and company doesn't mean security. And you begin to learn that kisses aren't contracts and presents aren't promises.You begin to accept defeats with your head up and your eyes ahead with the grace of an adult and not the grief of a child. You learn to build your roads today because tomorrow's ground is too uncertain for plans and futures have ways of falling down mid-flight. After awhile, you learn that even sunshine burns if you get too much. So you plant your own garden and decorate your own soul, instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers. And you learn that you really can endure, that you really are strong and you really do have worth and you learn and you learn..."

I'm still learning...

Damn you, Aromatherapy!

Sat, 24 May 2008 03:22:30 GMT

It's midnight and I just came out of my shower. I could never go to bed without a shower. Even if I came home at 4am, I'd still shower before I slept, no matter how tired or sick I felt. Some people prefer to do it in the morning to be fresh for a brand new start; I'd rather wind down and wash the day away at the end of it all. However, this totally backfired on me today.

Early shift tomorrow and I was planning on heading to sleep right about now. However, I was out of my normal shampoo so I grabbed some of my dad's stuff. He's a morning person and I am now fully awake. His shampoo has left a minty-tingly sensation on my head and has totally woken me up. I admit, if it was 9am right now, I'd feel pretty darn good about heading out the door and starting my day.

But it's not 9am.

And I want to sleep.

But I can't.

Damn, this stuff really works.

Anyways... It's the end of May; everyone's coming back from their graduation trips: Europe and Japan. Everyone else that was here with me in May has gone back home; I'll be visiting Asia this year, so see you soon! Earlier this month, I celebrated the second anniversary of my 21st (that is, my 23rd birthday. Which means my plan to stay 21 forever has failed again this year). Thanks everyone! T'was a good time.

To end, all I gotta say is: Epik High. I started listening to them about a year ago and they don't cease to impress.

Epik High: Volume 5 Pieces, Part One... awwwyea!

... I'm still fully awake.

Never Alone.

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 06:56:52 GMT

It's been an extremely hectic past week and a half. My final undergraduate exam - ever! - is on Wednesday and I haven't begun studying for it yet. It's kind of bad when the professor has admitted to the class, "I took a look at the exam last night and if I were writing it, even I wouldn't know how to answer the questions. Good luck!" I figured I'm going to cram myself full of feminist discourse and regurgitate that back onto the page and I'll ace it. Anyways, there's better things to be done than study for an exam and certainly there has been a lot to keep me on my toes. But despite being busy and all around the GTA, it's been an amazing time.

April 20th 2008: Bridal shower!

It seems like just yesterday Raluca got engaged and now the bridal shower's done and in the next few months she'll be a married woman! There was certainly a lot to do and stress levels were high but in the end we all sat back - exhausted - but happy and with a sense of bewilderment: "We actually did it!" It felt like a whirlwind but at the same time, it was amazing to see one of my close friends whom I grew up with getting celebrated as a bride-to-be. I remember when we were both convinced we would marry Nick Carter. Oh gawd.

April 22nd 2008: ChiReeNeese

A lot of my friends are male and this past week it felt so damn good to reconnect with my girls again. A few days after the girls-only bridal shower, there was a girls-only evening at Rina's. It was full of things only we'd understand and so I won't go into details because you'll all just think we're nuts. And if you have seen the photos and videos of that night on Facebook, you would agree and you already think we're insane. ("Balloons" dance? Awww hell yeah!)

Afterwards, I had to return to work and was a bit bummed out because I was so tired and was thinking about how I'm going to spend May essentially alone. Most of my friends are all going to be taking off for their graduation trips this summer in Asia and Europe. Even more of them are international students who are returning home after their visas run out in Canada. I felt like a diaspora was occurring in my life! However, one man really changed my attitude and refreshed my outlook on everything.

It was a fairly busy weekend and a coworker called me over to assist a customer with purchasing a lap top. He was approximately in his late fifties and was leaning against the table, he spoke very slowly and in a barely audible voice. He handed me an envelope and asked me what he had enough for. I counted it out and told him. He said to go ahead with it, except that he couldn't walk to the cash register. So I had to double count the money in front of him and go to the register to do the purchase while he waited in the front. Afterwards, he asked if someone could bring it to his car since he could not lift the laptop box. I volunteered and taking my hand, I had to pull him up from leaning against the table. He took my hand and I supported him the entire time. He could manage a few shuffling steps at best and he parked on the other side of the mall so it took us a fair amount of time to get there.

On the way, we chatted a bit. He was buying this laptop for his wife's birthday because her computer wasn't working too well, she didn't know that he was going out today and was calling him a lot to make sure he was alright. I could tell he loved her deeply as he described the surprise birthday party he had planned for her and how she has no idea what her present will be. Smiling, he said he couldn't wait to see the surprised look on her face. He told me he has a daughter that is very much like me. She got married to a wonderful man and 6 months ago she had a baby and he's so proud to be a grandfather. Here was a man who, despite his physical disabilities, looked at the good in life and was happy and proud of his loved ones. He kept apologizing and explaining that his medication will take affect soon and he will be able to walk easier soon. He also kept thanking me for walking with him and how much he appreciated it (also about how he bought a huge TV and no one offered to help him). When we got to his car, he wasn't parked in the handicapped space: someone without a proper license had taken that spot. He took out a fifty dollar bill and kept insisting that I take it, telling me no one would know, only me and him. I didn't accept it; I couldn't accept it. Not just because I could lose my job, but mostly because it would be the wrong thing to do. Making sure he got into his car alright and giving him a final wave before heading back inside, I felt uplifted.

It's hard to explain really. I came back feeling like I could never be alone and regardless of what we're all going through, we'll always be there for each other.

We'll always have friends and family right?

Make Love In This Club on this Mac.

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 00:04:33 GMT

My friend showed this to me and I have been thorougly amused with it since.

I've loved Usher since I was in the seventh grade and I waited for "You Make Me Wanna" to come on the radio so I could record it onto cassette tape. (Old school bootlagging.)

In case you haven't heard his newest single, here it is.

Love In This Club by Usher & Young Jeezy. Great song, seriously.

We've all heard the rumours that this song was created using presets, but without actually hearing it, it's hard to believe. So the other day my friends got an Apple Jam Pack, the Remix Tools edition. They dropped the "Euro Synth 01" loop into Garage Band, dropped a slower beat infront of it and sped it up.

Within ten minutes... this is what we got.

Yes it's true! For $119CDN, you too can be a music producer! I guess it's not that hard to be Polow Da Don.

Music sounds better in the summer time.

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 18:52:26 GMT

Driving with the windows down with my best friend steering because I'm too busy trying to eat my ice cream sandwich.

American Boy - Estelle w/ Kanye West.

Sexy Can I? - Ray J w/ Yung Berg

Summer, baby, I knew you'd come back.

Time to finally break out the mini skirts...

Loads of stuff coming up. Working the last few weeks towards that degree... Graduation FTW!

동방신기 Banjun Theatre. Sort of?

Sun, 06 Apr 2008 01:55:19 GMT

This entry is going to make sense only to Rina. I told you I'd do it when I had time!

동방신기 Dong Bang Shin Ki.

L-R: Yunho, JaeJoong, YooChun (Micky), ChangMin, JunSu

Chi & Reen

Background: Rina and I wanted to meet up to celebrate JaeJoong's birthday on January 26th. But I had to work that morning and didn't know if I could stuff a huge burger into me that early in the morning. (JaeJoong's stage name is Hero and there's a few videos of him eating hamburgers and calling them "hambagaas".) So in order to guilt me into having the burger, she wrote this story over MSN and illustrated it with GIFs.

Story written on January 23rd, 2008 by Reen.

JJ: Hmph! Chi is not eating a Hero bagaa with Reen on Saturday! Meh! At least one of them is going...

JS: Yunho hyung, why is your wife celebrating your best friend's birthday alone? You should grab a burger with her too... and Micky and I will double date with you! *Text Text Text*

YC: Ohmygod. I'll pretend I didn't hear that.

YH: *No Response*

JJ: *Sigh* Since Chi's not here, Yunho tell your wife to pass this message on to her.

YH: Okay, what is it? ...!

JJ: Hehe, yea I got you riiiiiiiiiight here! ^^ ... Why am I eating my burger with chopsticks? Am I that talented? Keke~~!

YH: *Nomnomnomnom* Uhhh yea... I guess go? *Looks Over To Reen & Sends Married Telepathic Messages" Nod yes with me honey...

JJ: But hmmm... Reen did bring me this card. She said it's from Chi! ^^ Kekeke...

JS: *Waves* Kamo's here! *Peeppeepdistract*

JJ: Oh Junsu! You're here too! Thanks for coming. Sorry I ran out of bagaas, here have some eggs.

JS: Eggs? EU KYANG KYANG~~! THIS REMINDS ME OF MY OYAJI GAGS! I like eggs but I like you moooore! (Kimi mo suki - it's a Japanese joke he made up because "egg yolks" and "you" sound the same.)

JS: Hmmm, but anyways back to being serious. Where is my Micky? Huh? Oh hey! I was just talking about you! ... PFFT WTF HAPPENED TO YOU??? Eu kyang kyang~~!

YC: Huh? Oh yea my face *Talks really fast* Well I told Changmin we - AHHH! CHANGMIN! *Hides Behind JaeJoong*

CM: WTF GUYS! How come nobody told me about going out for burgers?? You know I get hungry really fast!

JJ: Aw come on guys! It's my birthday, please don't fight! We're one big happy family!

YH: *Boink* YAH! YooChun is your hyung! Have some respect!

CM: *Pinch* I'm almost 20! I can do whatever I want!

JJ: Aigo... -_-;;; ... Look at how silly everyone is! If Chi were here, it'd be perfect! Best day eva~~ *Imagines*

CHI: Okay okay I'll go!

REEN: YAY!

THE END.

My Sassy Girl: Hollywood Remake

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 03:24:01 GMT

I am incredibly upset.

In the past few years, a lot of Asian films have been remade in Hollywood. Okay, I'm fine with that. Il Mare, Infernal Affairs, The Grudge, The Eye... et al. I draw the line at My Sassy Girl. It won't work. It simply won't. I heard of this project when it was first announced about a year and half ago, long before they casted any one and Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock were rumoured to star in it. (Of course, they were in The Lakehouse, which is essentially Il Mare.) So many of the key moments and phrases (Jook ul lae???) only have meaning in Korean and do not translate over at all. Imagine Elisha Cuthbert telling a guy "You wanna die? Drink coffee. Two coffees please." Doesn't pack the same punch. Another line that I guarentee won't make it into the film "I told the professor that I'm getting an abortion and you're the father." They're going to change so much of the script! And that is why I'm so upset. Jeon Ji Hyun will always be the only sassy girl. I'm hoping the guy will be as big of a tool as Cha Tae Hyun was. I don't know who Jesse Bradford is.

Another movie which I predict will get changed to the point where it dishonours the amazing original is Battle Royale. In light of all the teenage and school violence which get blamed on video games or other films with less calibre, I don't believe that Hollywood would allow a movie like Battle Royale with that much teenage violence be produced into a movie in its true form. Didn't they already try to remake it though? "The Condemned" with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. Of course, they changed it from school children to convicts since it's easier to have criminals go at each other.

Once the scripts get changed to the point where it's essentially not the same movie, it will never live up to the original.

Oh Hollywood My Sassy Girl, please prove me wrong. Otherwise, I'm going to need those 3 shots of soju so badly afterwards.

Spencer Jr.!

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 03:59:32 GMT

Peek-a-boo!

My little boyfriend is here! And... He's really soft. Seriously.

Isn't he handsome? Everyone kept hugging him and wouldn't let him go. But ultimately: he's mine! Back off! Bwahaha!

EUGE: What are you doing right now?
CHI: I won't lie. I'm taking sel-ca pictures with Spencer Jr.
EUGE: I was just going to say that you should take some with him.
CHI: You had any doubt that I WOULDN'T?!

Check out all the funny faces Spencer Jr. was making:

Isn't he hilarious???

... okay back to my essay. >_< ... despite the fact that Spencer Jr. is so much more fun than W.E.B. Du Bois...

The only thing that would make this the ultimate bestest teddy ever is if he was 100 times bigger. Let's say... life-sized?

Where I Want You To Touch.

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 03:33:50 GMT

Too busy right now for a real update. Exams and essays and starting my course to get my teaching certification. But I thought I'd share something Cole and I had a lot of fun making today.

Touch me! Touch me!