New Moon Tickets already selling! New Moon trailers are out! New Moon this! New Moon that!

So I've been pretty indifferent to this whole "hate 'em with a passion or love them like a fan girl" thing going on with the Twilight series. I haven't read the books and I almost slept through the first movie. However, there are those who are even MORE clueless about Twilight than I am but even those people could tell you they've noticed the hype. Those from my area can tell you well about the trampling of the people at the mall when Kristen Stewart (Bella) had a signing at Hot Topic. There weren't just fan girls but fan parents and fan boys. A lot lost their sense of dignity as they lost themselves in the deafening high pitched screaming as Ms Stewart showed her face.
So what I was getting at is that I don't HAVE to be well versed in Twilight to know that there's an incredible hype. However, I'm indifferent. I don't like the series but I don't hate it. I'm not one of the passionate haters or the "I'LL DIE FOR YOU EDWARD, TAKE MY BLOOD!" fan. You see, I don't believe in glittering vampires or werewolves falling in love with a human who has blood claim (those who know Atwater-Rhodes' books should know what blood claim is). I also don't believe in Native American werewolves. I believe the European werewolves. Though there were things much like werewolves in some Native American cultures, these animal-men were usually not just wolf in form. Some were wolves, some were eagles, some were horses, etc etc. But now I sidetrack...
Now, all I'm really trying to get at with this blog is that though I'm aware of the hype and tried to be indifferent, it's getting annoying trying to get the latest media news only to be bombarded with this Twilight: New Moon hype.  Even blogs are being over run with "I love Edward" blogs and "Twilight is gay" blogs. With this being said, let's not even start with youtube.
What I don't understand is how this all became such a big hype. Other than the vampires 'sucking blood' to survive, these vampires from the Twilight series don't follow much of the conventional traditions of vampires. I've known authors to create their own vampires before but I feel that Twilight vampires are really out there. I'm a personal fan of Amelia Atwater-Rhodes. I have books from "In the Forests of the Night" to "Snakecharm". They were good books and were pretty short. I love epically long books, don't get me wrong (I just finished reading Mists of Avalon), but sometimes short and to the point is really nice once in a while.
Even with Amelia Atwater-Rhodes, her vampires were traditional with some creativity of vampirism. There were no glittering, good vampries. These books had a lot of charm and provided good entertainment. I don't understand how these books didn't become such a hype. It has a good following and I feel that Twilight is only worthy of a good following. The hype feel undeserved.
I think that when something turns into a frenzied franchise like Twilight, it's just like a whirlpool. One gets sucked in and then another and another. Soon enough, you have a ton of people who are absorbed in the hype. What for, who knows?
So I have said my two cents worth. Hate? No, I don't think so. But I most certainly don't have the passion of love for the books and movies as much as a lot of others do. However, I feel that those who read this should give the books by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes a try. Specifically, go after "In the Forests of the Night". It's a good start to her books.

Post Korean Dinner Trip

I really didn't have much need to be so nervous about that trip with my boyfriend to get Korean food. We had a blast though my wallet took a good beating. It figures that I'd be so worked up over nothing so exciting.

Going to the Korean Restaurant was an experience all on its own. We left church and got on the bus immediately and transferred to the local Korean Town. The trip there was a good five dollars on its own. After the bus rides, we had to decide on where we would eat. I wanted Jjajangmyun but I couldn't find any stores that sold that. So we ended up going where google had led me to when I was looking up places online the night before.


So Kong Dong is a Korean Tofu restaurant chain. Tofu, however, is a bad idea because my boyfriend hates anything bean related... and worse yet, he won't touch food if there's no meat. But we went there anyway and we were seated.

My fear of people talking to me in Korean was wrongly preemptive. Our waitress sat us down and spoke to us in English. We ordered food in English and we were soon served our meals.

My boyfriend chose to have the ever famous galbi. I ordered beef tofu soup and asked for it to be extremely spicy. We waited in anticipation and luckily we didn't have to wait long at all.

It was fun introducing my boyfriend to new foods and I was delighted when he told me he liked what he was eating. In fact, he LOVED the galbi. I suppose I have to make some for him when I can now.

He, as expected, did NOT enjoy the tofu soup. He refused to even try the tofu, avoiding the floating object trying to reach for the beef. He and I can also add that the 'very spicy' tofu soup wasn't very spicy at all. He found it slightly spicy and I found it not spicy. When they served it to us, it was so red that I was almost afraid to try it. It looked quite intimidating, what with its red color and it being served still boiling.

We were also served a nice pot of rice. After they served the rice into our personal bowls, they filled the pot with tea so we could enjoy some sticky cooked rice in tea after the meal. I liked it, my boyfriend didn't. My boyfriend is quite the picky eater.

The aftermath of the dinner left us quite in shock. I was surprised to have eaten how much I did and my boyfriend also finished every bit of meat on his galbi. We were given a ton of food and we left the place extremely full. However, it's American tradition to want dessert... and I just can't abandon that tradition. I was raised on it!

We searched for a dessert shop and found a cute little ice cream store. They sold cakes, ice cream, ramune, bread, and chips. It was much like the average Korean snack shop but so unlike the American dessert shop. However, we stayed there. I ordered patbingsu and my boyfriend ordered something I had never heard of before: Ferrero Rocher ice cream. All it was, really, was hazelnut ice cream with a bit of crushed almonds and a bit of chocolate flavoring. However, it was amazing. I'd definitely like to go back there just for that ice cream.

I was slightly disappoitned when I ordered my patbingsu, however. The girl who worked there seemed to not really know what she was making. She put crushed ice, mocchi balls, sweet bean topping, all sorts of random fruit (I had asked her not to add fruit in) and a really odd powder that I'm SURE I've tasted before. I think it's the rice powder they use on this one type of Korean mocchi. However, it tasted horrible on the patbingsu. I had almost choked on it, actually. I ended up throwing half of it out and proceeded to drink the ramune we had also bought.

My boyfriend and I were quite satisfied and headed back home. All in all, it was a great day. I plan to take him to taste jjajangmyun next. I know exactly where to go as well. Another exciting day awaits us, I'm sure of it.

A Korean Afraid to go to Korean Restaurants

There's no denying my ethnicity. It's blatantly obvious that I'm Asian... and being where I'm from, it's safe to assume I'm Korean. That being said, I can't speak Korean and I don't have much Korean friends. I'm very heavily drenched in American culture. I know more about IHOP pancakes than Korean kimchi. I can tell you how many calories goes to into a Burger King value meal for the Whopper but I couldn't even tell you what nengmyun is exactly. My playlist on my windows media player consists of Nirvana and Avenged Sevenfold and the occasional Japanese Rock but has only a few songs by Korean Artists.

So when I go into a Korean ANYTHING, I feel like I am stepping into a foreign world. It's like if you're Italian and travel to Italy. I'm sure you wouldn't feel exactly at home if you were raised in America all your life. From what I've heard, being an American Italian is quite different from being an Italy-raised Italian. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I have plans today to take my... boyfriend(?) to a Korean restaurant for dinner. I'm extremely nervous. Where will I go? What will I order? Do I order in Korean or act like an American ordering foreign foods?

I always thought it was amusing to hear people pronounce foreign words that have been brought here. Like how TaeKwonDo is "Tah-ee-kwon-doe" as opposed to "Tay-kwon-doe" (without the sound made from the 'y' in 'tay'). Or how Karate is "car-aht-ee" as opposed to "Car-aht-eh". Bring it a little closer to home: Pasta Fagioli is "Pasta 'fag-ee-ohl-ee" as opposed to "Pasta fajool". I could go on forever.

But my point is, I know I won't be pronouncing them wrong but it'll be odd to go into a Korean restaurant, act like an American, and then make it obvious that you know Korean. I'm sure anyone reading 'mool nengmyun' will take a second to try and pronounce that. I, myself, would read the Korean instead and pronounce that as opposed to the Anglicized version.

Also, let's forget about where and how but remember WHAT. It's not too odd to see someone eating an Ice Cream in Winter time, or to see someone having soup in the summer, but we can generally agree that Ice Cream is a delicacy for the hotter days and soup is for the colder. What if I go into these restaurants and order a meal that's for the winter? I only know of hot Korean dishes so I'm not sure what I'd order... and my boyfriend(?) is also picky on his food so I have to choose from what he WOULD eat. In general, I'm avoiding all-veggie dishes because he's a bit carnivorous.

I wish I could get some advice on this but the dinner's tonight and I'll have not one moment's opportunity to check replies... so the best thing I could ask for anyone at the moment is to wish me luck. I'm fine makin myself look a bit foolish at restaurants but it'll be a shame to bring him and look like a fool too.

Magic Eye Images

Does anyone remember those images filled with odd patterns that when you look at it in a way, it'd produce some kind of hidden image within it? It was quite popular during the 90's... and now I wonder what in the world happened to them.

So I went online and looked for them... of course, there they were, posted ALL over the world wide web. How could I expect any less from such a powerful source of information? Anyway, it wasn't long before I was engulfed in eye-killing mayhem of figuring out what in the world was within each and every image.

On this site called MagicEye3Ds.com, there are many images you can look through. Some of them are really cool.


This one was found in one of their pages.


It's awesome that you can see odd little images or words within a 2d image. And being curious, of course I went out to try and find how to make some myself! Nothing's as fulfilling as being able to make something awesome with your own abilities.
But I didn't research enough because someone had made a program to use online that would let you make your own Magic Eye images. It's found on a site called flash-gear.com under 3dStereogram.
I made my own and it was a little hard getting used to it, but I did indeed make one that works :)


This one is still difficult to read but I'm happy with the result.


So with that, I retire for the night. Magic Eye images (which is technically called stereograms) may not hurt your eyes but it does strain them a bit when you try so hard to figure out every image.

Also, to those who are still unable to see the images within these stereograms, the best method I can advise to use is to print it out, put the paper to your face and pretend you can look through the image and focus your eyes on an imaginary item past the image. When you feel you can do this, slowly pull the paper back away from your face without focusing your eyes on the image. You should still be looking at the imaginary item past the paper. You should be able to make something out within the image. Do your best to pretend you're looking through the paper and as if that imaginary item is moving around behind the paper. You should be able to start making out 3d shapes within the image. If you try too hard to see the 3d image within the stereogram, you may end up focusing back on the image itself, thus losing the illusion. Try again! There's a kind of satisfaction when you're able to see the image in the end.
... Unless we're looking at the image underneath.


Click on the above image. But be warned, figuring this one out won't give you a sense of satisfaction.

It's been a long while...

I must admit first and foremost that I have completely forgotten about this blog. I had created it originally to post about what it's like to work in the fast food industry. After only one post, that went completely down the drain.

I have a horrible habit of wanting to start something big and then forgetting and failing. Many blogs that I've created are great examples of this. If blogging can't suffice to be proof, my youtube account proves to be better as an evidence. So all in all, I forget about these things I start. The only exception being my Deviant Art.

Deviant Art is an online artist's community where we share with each other our art and talents. It's a pretty well-known site and I've been part of their community since 2004. I've started off much like any other teenager did. I posted "pixel art" using MS Paint. I posted horribly needless emotional journal entries letting the entire world know woe is me. I also posted some nasty sounding poetry that, to this day, makes me scratch my head in confusion. What was I thinking?

Now I approach that site a little more professionally. I have worked hard and gave my all to improving my art. I now have a gallery of digital artwork I'm quite proud of. I feature artists time to time allowing artists who just don't have the attention they deserve to have that honor. I also run Deviant Art Meets in New York City. In fact, July 11, 12, and 13 were the three days this year that I held our annual meet. The people that attended numbered many and I received a lot of positive feed back. And because of this meet, I have become the moderator to a Deviant Art Group called *ThisIsNYC.

But even with Deviant Art, I fall behind. I don't post art as much as I'd like to. The Deviant Art Meets happen only once a year (so dubbing it 'annual' fits nicely). My profile shows my desktop screen shot from August of 2008. I feel some things I can update, I really should... but I don't. The desktop screen shot, for example, takes about a minute to make and post. Why I haven't updated in a year is beyond me... and it's even more confusing that I haven't the will to make one now.

So, sadly, even Deviant Art gets neglected by me. But of the sites I keep up with, or try to, Deviant Art is the only one I visit regularly enough. I may visit MySpace, FaceBook, and Twitter daily, but there's no progress in them and it's not guaranteed that I update all of them when I go on, either.

I have never been the girl who did her homework during school. That lazy attitude has stalled me and held me back from doing simple things like updating this blog, Deviant Art, MySpace, and FaceBook. I can promise to try to update and keep up more, but I can't promise that they'll definitely happen.

With that being said, I wonder how long it will be until my next blog entry here?