Month: February 2009

  • The Evolution of my Hair Throughout This Past Decade

    Yesterday, I was looking through my old blog posts and realized how lame I used to be (in before anyone says “you still are!”  haha).  I was actually cringing as I read through posts after posts, not just because of the written content but also because of the ever changing pictures of me over the years.  While I didn’t really look too different from the face down (besides my clothes), you can really see how my hair style has changed through different phases of my life.

    I thought it would be kinda interesting (although super embarrassing) to explore and chronicle my hair styles over this past decade to see how I got from point A to point B.  I’m going to warn you right now; there’s going to be a lot of fails coming up.  Be gentle on me, alright?

    Pre-2000:  My “Unkempt/Fluffy” Middle School Hair Phase


    Middle school version of me, rocking that Old Navy T!

    Up to this point, I never really cared about how my hair looked (obviously).  I didn’t feel the need to brush or put gel in my hair when I went to school.  I would just wake up and hope that my hair wasn’t sticking up too terribly.

    Eventually, I had enough of my friends making fun of my bed hair, so I decided that I really need to start using gel and combing my hair in the morning.  After several trials, I manage to get my hair to cooperate and part down the center without any hair sticking out the back:


    Success?

    Not too bad, I thought.  It was a clean look, so I continued on this style for the next few years.  However, I did some more experimenting, the outcome of which lead to probably my most embarrassing hair years of my life (thus far).  And so it began, my high school years.

    2000-2004:  My “Colorful/FOBish” High School Hair Phase

    I remember exactly what started me down this path.  My mom, after looking at some Asian magazines, told me to try growing out my hair and dyeing it.  Apparently, that was all the rage over in Asia and she wanted me to start the trend early over in the US.  At the time, I still trusted my mom’s sense of style, so I followed her advice. 

    Initially, I just dyed my hair to see how it would turn out.  I picked a burgundy color and my hair ended up like this:


    Don’t mind that shell necklace (I thought it was kickass back then!)

    Okay, this is going smoothly, right?  I continued to grow out my hair a bit more:

    Starting to imagine me arriving on a boat?

    I should have stopped myself right then, but nope, I kept on experimenting after this unfortunately.  Before I knew it, my hair has grown past my ears!  This was the longest it has ever been and probably will ever be (brace yourself):

     
    DAMN!

    *Waits for all your laughter to die down*

    Yes…so in hindsight I probably should have stopped myself from getting to this point, but I kept on being encouraged by girls who liked how soft my hair was.  All my female friends would constantly brush their fingers through my hair in school and I guess I took that as proof that my style was hot!  Urgh.

    Anyways, I did eventually start trimming it down to a more manageable length.  It started off gradually at first, but by my senior year my hair was medium length and parted with some highlights left over from my past dye jobs:


    Why was I trying to look so hard?

    Eventually, the color wore off and my hair turned back to my natural black hair:


    Thumbs up?

    By the time high school ended, I have had this style for way too long and was getting sick of it.  I was tired of spending so much time in the mornings to take care of my hair, so I wanted to cut my hair short to make it easier to manage.  In a way, cutting my hair was also symbolizing to myself a fresh new start in college where I could be someone new and better than I was in high school.

    Just like before, when I had to transition to my parted hair style, changing to this new hair style proved difficult at first.  When I initially loped off my hair, my hair wanted to curve down like it was used to when it was long and parted.  This was the result after my first hair cut (brace yourself again):

    *Coughs* Yes, it was pretty bad, but I got my hair to start cooperating a little bit better once college started.  Along with this new phase of my life came many new variations of the hair style I have today.

    2004-Present:  My “Spiky/Dragonball Character” College Hair Phase

    In order to combat my hair, I had to use A LOT of hair gel to control it so it would stick up instead of fall back down.  Looking back, I realized I probably went a bit too overboard with the product:

     
    My Goku style, as one friend has labeled it

    Yep, just a tad too much gel there.  I must have really wanted to poke someone eyes out!  I tried out a few variations to see what worked the best, such as having some hair fall forward at the front to form bangs, tried having my hair stick up every which way, and combing all my hair forward with the front sticking up.

    The gel use has calmed down intensely since those pictures were taken.  I now use a minimum amount of gel in my hair, since my hair can now naturally sticks up after all these years of gel-overload.  My hair length can still vary though, depending on how long I wait in between haircuts. 

    It can be very short…

    …or in comparison, it could get quite big:

    Nowadays, I settle for a nice medium length spiky hair style:

    That concludes my hair-volution from 1999-2009!  Now that I’m out of college, I wonder if I should change my hair style yet again.  I just don’t know what style though.  Should I stick with what I have now, or should I go for something new?
  • Life Update 02/23/09 – Sectional Tournament!


    Tennis center at Navy

    What an eventful weekend for me!  This past weekend, I was helping out the USTA with running the Mid-Atlantic Sectional tournament at the Naval Academy in Annapolis (click on link for the official article of this tournament).  There was a lot of work involved, but in the end it was a very rewarding experience and felt like a vacation.


    The USTA staff running the tournament, plus me!

    While I technically didn’t get paid for helping out, I did get to stay at an amazing hotel for free for two nights, as well as some other benefits like free food and tennis gifts.


    Woohoo, king size bed all to myself!  For some reason I thought it was funny that there was a complimentary Doritos bag on the stand for me haha.

    Besides helping out with setting up the matches between teams (18 freakin’ teams were there, the most of any year!) and tallying up scores, I was also the tournament stringer.  I made a decent amount of money from doing that .  Ever seen someone string a racket?  Here’s a couple of pictures of me working on one:

    Clamping a string to hold the tension

    Weaving a cross string I think?

    It’s really not that hard, but it’s not easy either.  There’s an art to it for sure.  So far, I haven’t had any complains about my string jobs in terms of string performance and accuracy.  I’m still trying to improve on my speed though.  I can string a racket at a pretty decent pace (around 25-30 minutes if I’m not distracted), but I hope one day I can be as fast as professional stringers on the pro tour (they can do it in about 15-20 minutes!).  I’ll get there eventually!

    I’m also glad I got to meet up and see a lot of old friends at the tournament, including my old club team and former varsity coach at my old college (who’s now coaching the Navy team):

    Yep, that’s the same coach I made a silly tribute video for back in November (entry and video clip here)

    Besides some minor car troubles, having absolutely no phone signal at the facility, and abysmal food choices in that area, it was a pretty smooth weekend.   If only I can run a tournament every weekend for a living!  That would be sweet.

    What’s next to look forward to now?  Well, I just realized over this weekend that my birthday is coming up this Sunday.  I haven’t planned anything for it yet though, and I’m not sure if I will (partly because I’m feeling lazy haha).  I can’t believe I’m turning 23 0_0.  I’m getting old!

  • If you’re a romantic, you’ll probably like this video

    Yoinked this from XxFtbllGrlxX (thanks!):

    Well worth watching the entire 12 minutes (trust me).

    It’s funny that I would see this video today after what’s been on my mind as of late.  For the past few days, I’ve been feeling a little…bored I suppose, like how the guy feels in the beginning of this video.  It’s not that I’m not happy with life in general, because I am.  I just feel like life is lacking some much needed excitement that I could use to give myself a jolt of energy. 

    After all my thinking, I always end up concluding there’s a void in my life right now and having something like this happen in my love life would be one way to make me feel whole again (hey if you’re reading this God, a job promotion, winning a million dollars, or suddenly gaining the ability to teleport would also suffice!  Just kidding…kinda ).  I keep saying I’m fine being by myself, and to an extent it’s true.  Still, I want to feel more than fine; I want to feel great!  Unfortunately for now, I probably have to wait a little longer before I get my wish.  I don’t imagine meeting someone through work since all the members at my tennis club are either under 18 or old enough to be my grandmother (no, I’m not gonna go GILF hunting!).  Perhaps one of thoes grandmothers will refer me to a granddaughter?  Haha, we’ll see.

    Sadly, the most “exciting” thing that has happened in my life recently has been my car having trouble starting up in the morning.  I sent it to get checked up and found out from the mechanic that it’s going to keep on having that problem due to the cold and my car’s age.  Right after saying this, he gives me a $700 bill for “fixing” the car!  What?!  That sure made me want to scream (just like the guys below)!

    Okay, I just wanted an excuse to post this ridiculous screencap from Push

    Anyway, it feels good putting down my thoughts here so I can maybe stop thinking about it, at least temporarily.  I will keep on trying my best to fill that void though.  If not, I’ll just continue on distracting myself as long as I can before the next time I feel the need to write these thoughts down .  If I’m lucky, I won’t feel that need for a while.

  • The winner of The Roadlesstaken Contest is…

    Well let me just say a few things before I reveal who the winner is (don’t cheat by scrolling down please!). 

    First off, I just want to thank everyone that participated in this contest.  I was hoping for at most 10 entries, so I was very happy that I got much more than that.  I also want to thank everyone that has taken the time to check out those entries and had left feedback.  Not only did the feedback help me come to a decision, it also gave the attention that each and every one of the contestants deserved.  Hey, it’s not easy to write about a personal story sometimes, especially ones that are embarrassing.  Kudos to all of you!  I am very appreciative that you all took the time to write something for this contest!

    I’ll explain the process of how I decided on the winner.  Initially, I tried to narrow it down by which entries were amusing and which were not.  Well, that didn’t really do much since I genuinely had a good time reading all the entries submitted.  I next tried to whittle it down by figuring out which stories were a bit more embarrassing than the others.  That took out a few out of the running, but I still had way too many choices.  After this, I narrowed it down even further by picking out the ones that were the most well written and were able to captivate my attention throughout the entire time, which took my choices down to about 5-6 potential winners.

    At this point, I was still undecided, so I started looking at people’s feedback on both the contestants’ posts and on my post, which helped tremendously.  After thinking about it last night and today, I finally decided on the winner.

    Ready?

    *drum roll*

    The winner of The Roadlesstaken Contest is…

    (click on picture or name to see her entry!)

    1st Place Prize:  Either 1) one month of premium, 2) two weeks worth of plugs, or 3) five 1,000 eprops minis from me (ladyofthesilk:  you will get a message from me soon asking which one you want!)

    What did I like about her story?  What I loved about her story was how it wasn’t one or two instances of embarrassment, but a consistent flow of embarrassing incidents throughout the story.  It was extremely well written and I felt like I was reading a short story at a bookstore or looking at a plot of a Asian drama.  I was also quite surprise by the ending!  Overall, her entry had all three elements of being embarrassing, being amusing, and having a high quality of writing that it made my decision easy to back up.

    Congratulations!

    The runner-up of The Roadlesstaken Contest is…

    (click on picture or name to see his entry!)

    Runner-Up Prize:  Either 1) a week worth of plugs or 2) two 1,000 eprops minis from me (drung888:  you will get a message from me soon asking which one you want!)

    What did I like about his story?  This was another story that I felt I could have read straight out of a book or something.  He did a good job building up the ending, which was quite hilarious.  His descriptions of everything that was happening in his story made it very easy for me to imagine what he must have felt and gone through during this entire incident.  Besides being well written and funny, it also had a very sweet element to it.  Go read it and you’ll see what I mean!

    Honorable mention goes to…

    (click on picture or name to see her entry!)

    Honorable mention prize:  A 1,000 eprops mini from me (sorry, that’s the only choice =P)

    What did I liked about her story?  While I also thought her entry was very easy to read, funny and embarrassing, what put her story up a notch from some of the other stories was her unique use of images to help tell her story (example below):

    To understand the context of this picture, check her entry out!

    Come on, you have to give props to her for going the extra mile and drawing out her own pictures for her story! 

    Congratulations to ladyofthesilk, drung888, reallifedemo, and everyone one else who took part in this contest!  I hope everyone who took part in my contest had a good time writing up your entries and reading about embarrassing love stories of your fellow Xangans!  Again, thank you very much for participatiing

  • Here are the entries for The Roadlesstaken Contest (Updated)

    UPDATED 02/13/09:  Added five new entries at the bottom.  Check them out when you got the time.

    Below is a list of all the embarrassing love story posts I’ve received for the contest.  They are all quite funny and I’m still very undecided on who should be the winners, so I’m going to need your help!

    Please check out the entries below and leave some personal feedback on their posts.  Afterwards, come back to my post and tell me which one you think deserves to win and why you think so.  Again, I’m looking for the story that is a good mixture of being amusing, embarrassing, and well written.

    Without futher ado, here are the contestants (in order of entry submission).  Please click to go to their entry:

    1.  s_h_a_sha:  How she seriously wanted to marry Malcom in the Middle while growing up
    2.  TheCheshireGrins:  Her awful date with one of the biggest douchebags around
    3.  drung888:  His first kiss didn’t quite hit the mark
    4.  Lynn1013:  How she inadvertently went on a date with a lesbian
    5.  reallifedemo:  Crushing on a cashier while in the company of your mom isn’t the most ideal situation
    6.  xxpoetry_in_motionx:  Why it’s good to know how to pronounce your significant other’s name
    7.  indiechaos:  Awkward requests from a “friend”
    8.  LadyAsianInvasion:  What happens when you’re gassy while um, having fun?
    9.  fLiPgUy31O:  Spin the bottle can sometimes lead to good things…and bad things
    10.  favor_me_this:  Laughing in their face; not the best option to pick when a crush ask if they can kiss you
    11.  Rob_of_the_sky:  Getting cock-blocked is never cool
    12.  xJanetirax:  Be careful when getting busy with relatives around!
    13.  ladyofthesilk:  Match-making by elders.  What could go wrong?
    14.  tweeny_tear:  So this is what happens when you ask for the shirt off someone’s back!
    15.  MochaSprinkle:  When you gotta pee, you gotta pee!
    16.  Pearls_of_Trust:  One of his first encounters with another guy
    17.  ChellyisEccentric:  Getting hit on by the pizza guy next door
    18.  darth_cosmos:  Please be sure to check who you’re sitting next to in the theater!
    19.  AubbySilver:  The joys of being snowed in while hiking

    I’ll make my final decision on Valentine’s Day, this Saturday, at noon.  Until then, leave some feedback to help me pick the winner!

  • My Embarrassing Love Story – The Roadlesstaken Contest (Now with my own story!)

    **********************************************************************
    2ND EDITED:  Here’s the link for entries and here’s the link for the final results.
    **********************************************************************

    **********************************************************************
    1ST EDITED:  Added a quick embarrassing story at the bottom of this post, per request
    **********************************************************************

    I was looking at my credits recently and realized something; I have A LOT, and I hardly ever use them.  “What should I do with them?” I thought. 

    Well, why don’t I just give them away?  I’m sure some of you might like that.  So, I’ve decided to hold a contest this week!  What better reason to give out stuff, right? 

    I’m sure some of you are wondering what this contest will entail.  In light of of Valentine’s Day coming up, I decided to make it a love theme one.  However, I’m also really in the mood to laugh, so I’m not really that interested in the sappy stories.  I want some funny stories!  It’s good to laugh at one’s self sometimes.

    With all that being said, here are the official rules for the contest:

    1.  This contest is open for all Xanga users.  Create a public post anytime between now and this Thursday, February 12th, no later than 7pm.  Title the post “My Embarrassing Love Story – The Roadlesstaken Contest”.

    2.  In the post, I want you to write about one of the most dumbest, craziest, and/or embarrassing thing that has happened to you in your love life.  It could be anything ranging from a failed/aborted romantic plan, being turned down, saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, an awful date, being caught doing something naughty, etc.  Things and mistakes happen all the time, so don’t feel too shy about writing it down.  It might even give you a cathartic feeling.

    3.  The more details the better!  If you can provide back stories or aftermath stories that would be great!  Pictures can be helpful too.  Your goal is to make the post as amusing as possible.

    4.  After you have created your post, please leave a link to your post in the comment section of this current post.  Just to be sure I see it, please add a tag called “Roadlesstaken Contest” and/or user tag me on your post as well so I can search for it easily. 

    5.  After the Thursday evening deadline, I will create a new post listing the links to all the entries I have.  You can then stop by those posts and leave feedback. 

    6.  By noon on Valentine’s Day (this Saturday), I will pick my favorite entry and my second favorite entry.  My choice will be based on two factors; how amusing I personally thought of your story and  how amusing other people thought of your story.

    Oh yeah, you want to know the prizes?

    1st place:  Choice of either a) one month of premium, b) two weeks worth of plugs for your blog, or c) five 1,000 eprops minis from me.

    Runner up:  Choice of either a) one week worth of plugs for your blog or b) two 1,000 eprops minis from me.

    Of course, anyone that takes part in this contest will get a shout out in my next post, which will probably help increase your blog traffic.

    Feel free to ask me any question if you have them.  Otherwise, go ahead and make your entries and leave a link for it below.  I look forward to reading them.

    ********************************************************
    A few people have been asking me to write my own embarrassing story.  Even though I already did write one not too long ago (My Failed A Cappella Surprise), just for you guys I’ll write about another time I made a fool of myself:

    During my freshman year of high school (back in 2000), I had a crush on a fellow freshman who was a female friend of mine.  We had a lot of classes together, so we would hang out at school and walk back home together everyday.  We used to laugh all the time and I slowly found myself being more fond of her.

    One day, I decided that I wanted to give her a gift to show her that I had some feelings for her.  I was walking around the mall when I finally spotted something at a toy store:

    A HUGE, fat, stuffed hippo! 

    I don’t know what exactly went on in my head at that point of time, but I somehow reasoned myself to use most of my paycheck to buy this big stuff animal for her.  In my defense, it was on sale and was pretty cute, no?  I thought for sure she would like it.

    Of course, I didn’t really think ahead about how exactly I was going to get it to her.  I only saw her during the second half of school and after school, and at the time I didn’t know how to drive nor knew where she lived. 

    So what did I end up doing?  I ended up carrying this dumb stuffed hippo (the size of fat toddler) from my house to the crowded bus, through the crowded hallways, and through most of my classes before I was able to finally give it to her at lunch.  Throughout the entire time, I kept hearing side comments by everyone I walked by, laughing at me because I was holding this big silly thing. 

    It was quite embarrassing, but was it worth it? 

    When I gave it to her, she said thanks…and that’s it.  About 2 weeks after this, she started dating a junior at my high school and ended up dating him for the next 8 years.

    -_-

    See, it’s not that bad to write down an embarrassing story of yourself.  Now it’s your turn! 

  • Love Song = Double-Edged Sword

    You know what song I have playing over and over in my head right now?  “Lucky” by Jason Mraz featuring Colbie Caillat.  Heard of it?

    Here’s Alyssa Bernal & Kris Mark’s cover of “Lucky” (P.S. If I had those singing and guitar playing talent I would so be making videos like this everyday!  For now, I’ll just be giving private shows for those passengers in my car =P)

    It’s such a feel good song, similar to Jason Mraz‘s last single, “I’m Yours“.  I find myself constantly humming and singing this song whenever I’m alone because it’s very soothing, makes me happy, and relaxes me for whatever reason.  I love this song…yet I hate how I can’t relate to it at all at this point of time.  How so?

    Take this sample of the lyrics for instance:

    I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend
    Lucky to have been where I have been
    Lucky to be coming home again
    Lucky we're in love every way
    Lucky to have stayed where we have stayed
    Lucky to be coming home someday

    Catchy lyrics huh?  However, in the middle of singing this to myself it dawns on me how inapplicable those lines are to my reality.  I’m not lucky to be in love with my best friend because well, I’m not.  I’m not lucky we’re in love in every way because well, there isn’t any “we” currently happening in my life.  I might have been able to claim this a couple of years ago, but alas I’m in the here and now.  Despite all of this, I still can’t help but sing this song to my heart’s content.

    So, while this song brings a lot of good feelings in me, it also manages to remind me that yep, I’m single (and just in time for Valentine’s Day! ).  Although I’ve gotten used to being alone and it doesn’t quite bother me as much as it did say a few months ago, it doesn’t mean I don’t occasionally have the urge for things such as those described in this song.  

    Luckily, this feeling comes and goes, so I’m fine most of the time.  It’s like I’m wearing body armor and occasionally something will hit me out of the blue.  It might phases me a bit, but then I shake it off and go on with my life.

    Anyways don’t worry, I figured out an easy solution to this problem; I’ll just get another song stuck in my head!  Yes!  Hmm let’s click on a random song on my playlist.  *Click*

    Alright, I’m listening to a rather upbeat song.  I wonder what song it is *looks at title* 

  • Looking for someone to give me a dream analysis

    I have my theories on what the dream I’m about to describe here meant, but I’m not totally sure.  I hope to hear some of your theories after you read this.

    I’m at a reunion of some sort.  I see friends I know from high school and college attending this big celebration (which, oddly enough, was taking place at my old middle school).

    I’m sitting in the lobby of my middle school just laughing, chatting, and having a great time with my closest friends as the evening goes on.  Soon though, one of my friends interrupts me and tells me to look outside.

    When I turn around to see what he was talking about, I notice a girl (who shall remain nameless, for now, since she does read this blog) sitting at an outside table all by herself. Unlike everyone else, she looks sad and stress out I have absolutely no clue why.

    Suddenly, it begins raining violently and people that were outside start running indoors, everyone except her.  She just continues sitting by herself, looking like she is in deep thought and ignoring everything around her.

    I tell my friends I got to leave the party so I can see what is up with her.  I grab my big umbrella (which I didn’t notice I had until right then) and run outside to where she is.  I quickly open the umbrella and shade us from the rain. 

    Once I did that, she seems to snap out of her trance and turn to me.  I don’t remember verbatim what we said in the following conversation, but I do remember trying my best to be extra charming, caring, and silly with her in order to get her out of her funk.  As the conversation goes on, she starts smiling more and more, proving that I was having some success.  Pretty soon, we get extremely close to one another to the point where our legs are practically resting against each other.   

    What comes next has to be my favorite part of my dream.  I close my eyes and lean in to give her a kiss.  It’s complete darkness now and all I can feel is the sensation of our lips caressing one another for the first time.  You know that euphoria feeling you get from kissing someone you care about for the first time?  I haven’t had a first kiss experience like that in a while, so this was feeling absolutely incredible.  I didn’t want it to end.

    I’m enjoying every moment of this and it feels like at least 10 minutes has pass before we finally stop.  I can feel myself grinning like a happy little boy as the rain stops and all is quiet.  A little bit too quiet.

    I open my eyes right then, only to see that she has disappeared!  (Btw, the umbrella I was holding also disappeared, but not sure how significant that detail is.)  “What happened??” I thought.  “Did I just imagine her being there??”  I figured that couldn’t have been the case, since my friends saw her as well.  The only other thing that gives me a clue that she was actually there was her purse, still lying on the table.

    I frantically search all outside for her before I head back inside.  All my friends now are doing contests and competitions in the cafeteria and tells me to join in, but I tell them I can’t because I need to find herI keep searching for her for the rest of the evening, but I just can’t find her.

    Disappointed, I go back outside in hopes she would just reappear where we were kissing not too long ago.  At this point, all my friends are now exiting out of the school with trophies and ribbons.  I keep asking everyone if they seen the girl, but to no avail.  As everyone goes home, I go back inside to continue my search for her.

    And then just like that, I wake up.

    So, what (if anything) do you think was the significant of my dream?  Any suggestions would be much appreciated because I’m still trying to figure it out myself.