Nostalgic Mode

I'm in the middle of reading Young Sherlock, Black Ice when I had this nostalgic feeling of remembering the house I grew up when I was younger before starting school, to late elementary years and high school.

It's the house my father built literally in his own hands. It was a nipa house with a living, kitchen and dining area on right side, and the two bedrooms elevated on the other side. There was an elevated outhouse at the back and charcoal stove just behind the kitchen area. At one point, there were also a small chicken coop where my parent kept some for eggs and meat. Our water was from a deep well right outside the kitchen. We had to boil it all the time in a kettle that has very thick sediments because of the high acidity of the water in the area.

What prompted me to write just now is the memory of my room. It was a functional room next to my parent's room. I can literally climb over and get to the other side. I really don't remember much about that room except that it was the room where I had to stay for days when I caught the chickenpox. I had to spend my time coloring books, eating, sleeping and maybe there was a book that was made available at one point. It would have been a bliss if there were more though. The consolation was that I was able to eat my favorite store-bought bread, Skyflakes and RTO (Royal True Orange). Now that I think of it, most of those might have been on credit from the neighborhood store and that I had already consumed enough sugary drinks back in the days of my youth. The Coca Cola Bottler's company had a very bustling warehouse in our area.

Going back to my room, the bedrooms were just next to each other, with entrances at the opposite end of the small hallway. The wall that connects the two rooms had built-in closets on each side. Mine was a small one. I didn't have a lot of clothes so there were still a lot of space in each shelf. I could clearly remember that it was easy to shove the clothes off at the back of the closet so I can use it as steps to climb up the walls. That pretty fun except the top, which isn't really easy to clean, was a bit dusty. And not only that, there were always some lizard or gecko poops around. Yet, it was still fun to climb and look out at the other room.

The room has two windows, one on the neighbor's side and the other facing the outhouse at the back, along with coconut trees in the woodlands, where my parents would sometime plant cassava.
The window is a typical kubo window. It's basically just a simple opening with a retractable window held by a wood to keep it open and a big nail that one drops in the hole of the window to keep them closed at night or when it rains hard. The window is also made with bamboo mats as most all the walls of the house.

I remember looking at the windows while listening to chirping birds on good weather, listening to the rainfall or thunders during storms. There's this feeling of security inside one's room while at the same time being aware of what is happening outside. There were also mornings when I would wake up and hear my folks already going about the day. Those were the days when I don't have a care in the world, not even having to go to school.

There's this part when I was really younger that I remember that we had a tenant in the house. And a family at that! I don't know what the father does but the mother was a doctor. There were three little girls, younger than me. They occupied the bigger room and now that I think of it, I guess my family stayed in the smaller room which became my own room years later. I guess we shared the rest of the house being that their mom is busy with hospital duties and the kids one of which was still a wee one. How it came about or how long it lasted, I am not sure. They didn't stay that long I guess coz I remember the guy coming home drunk one time and we were spared from the couple's fights after that to say the least.

How they managed to stay in the bigger room was a mystery to me. I mean it is spacious yes, but it's all there was except for the built-in closets and dresser. My parent's closet right by the door had the a-two-door closet and simple three-level shelf with doors. On the left side is a dresser that my father also built-in for my mother. There wasn't much there except for a mirror, a few powders, lipstick, a few others and that ubiquitous blue comb that I remember to have existed until I was all grown up. There were two windows, one looking out of the front lawn and the other facing our neighbors, my cousin's house. We can see each other through the windows and I remember making some can and string telephone to use across the bamboo fence as our toys. There was also a small balcony jutting out at the front corner where a tree can be reached to climb on if one dared to do so.

Hmm..time check. 4:30. I might have been writing for almost an hour by now and I'm getting hungry. It's time for something else.

Before I finish this one off...we lived in that house on and off starting when I was a wee one. We lived at my grandparent's when I was in early elementary (1987/88 to 1991/2) then back there again in 93 or 94. We had to move out to my grandparent's again to live with my grandma after my grandfather passed away. And had stayed there for the longest time til left and got married. So basically, around preschool years and adolescent years were spent in that childhood home. Those were all just good memories. I like the place better than the other one to say the least. The other one felt just ...a house. Cramped room, hardly any window with a decent view, except when my father built the roof deck where I was able to hang out with some friends back in my teenage years. Oops! That's for another post.

Signing off! 

Bail Out

One thing I've learned about some pips here...they often bail out. I think it's a common nationality trait? Is it because we come from the same culture that we take for granted our fellow countrymen? I, myself, is a bit guilty of such sometimes. But not as often as some, I hope. 😉

I must try to develop the integrity of not going back on my word, however light a thing is. It's not a good habit to keep specially if something will take a bit more planning on the other person's part. 

But living outside one's comfort zone does change a person's character or the way he views the world. It helps up weed out the the not-so-good cultures that we grew up in.

 

Well, it just came up again. I really don't mind much about today coz I kind of gotten used to such but there's this feeling of deja vu all over again. 

More interesting ideas on culture here.

MS Mom Diaries

So I just got off the phone with the Korean English teacher and we spoke in Korean. I mean he did. And it's a he. Om..

So the salient points that I understood.
We live in the countryside. Most kids' English level are not really..well..let's just say that it's different from city kids.
Now, how can I give my son a chance to maximize his potential if the environment that we live in is like this without having the need to move? Or paying an academy to teach something that I can teach myself? I've already outsourced the math now and I think I really need to look into handling the writing skills as well as other life skills that he will need. There should be another way. And I don't want the factor of not having enough money to do so.

All I want is to let him be able to hone his skills to be a better student, a better person.

Remnants of the Winter

Be a person like a fallen leaf

in the early morning frost

Amidst the cold and chill

Keep your sparkle until the sun comes out.

I took a quick stroll after dropping my husband off in the morning. I thought that it's already warm enough for morning exercise but I was wrong after one round. It is still cold as evidenced by the frost on the ground which I just noticed as I got to the shady area and saw the frosted leaf.

The leaf is not exactly in its pristine state and there are even holes but it still looked pretty. It managed to keep hold of the sparkle that the winter has left it. It reminded me of people who despite  of "imperfections" in their lives still have the sparkle. There's still something good going for every person. It's just inspiring. 

posted from Bloggeroid

Lunar New Year Duty 2018

Notes:

Youngest DIL here and uses the foreign card most of the time since Korean hubby is not really that keen on attending these at least twice year things (fam structure is a bit complicated to say the least.) Went to the recent lunar new year and heard in the "family meeting" that the oldest son wanted to have everyone do more than the two basic. It seems that they have to do the "ceremonies" like more than twice a year before because they're trying to cover 3 generations of fore-fathers. And because BIL1 has one unwilling and complicated son, and both him and SIL1 are getting old, needs extra help to complete the ceremonies. But instead of doing at least 3x, on top of the regular 2x, he "proposed" to do it all in one. So that means, 2 regular ones plus at least 1 more. Other SILS were like, WHAAT? Me being the youngest and foreigner at that...well...These are all news to me.

That's how the lunar day summarizes. Ah..on another note..Even if I totally don't dig such ceremonies, I do like to be able to help my nice SILS and the entertain the MIL since they were just in the inconvenient culture to be born in. I don't think they expect much from me as I am pretty useless in the kitchen anyway, but I'd be a willing helping hand if available. I just don't like all the drama and the irony of all women doing all the work while the men just sit, talk and bark orders (at times.) The way I see it, the ladies are the power house so if they decide not to do any of those stuff all together, then I doubt if the men can manage all those food. Unless they choose to order-in everything.

My Mini Project for Feb

Completed my mini projects last night. I brought over my favorite crochet string from home when we went last month. It took me a bit to get around to start it.

Did the lip balm holder over the weekend but I had to pull it apart quite a few times to match the size since I really don't folllow any pattern. It's just basically do as you go. Good thing that it's small so an hour or two is all I need to complete it.

It's another story with the hand sanitizer holder. I had a jard time starting it since its a bit bigger but just pulled it apart once. It was already too late in the night and I just had to finish it however ugly it is. I also tried a few kinds of stitches but ended up doing the verticals to make it quicker. It was done and can function as it should. Not perfect but usable.

They are both hanging with my sole house key now along with the rolled measuring tape. One more missing in this bundle is the emergency whistle. It keeps getting heavy. We'll see if I decide to add it later. For now, it is as colorful as it is.

posted from Bloggeroid

Don't be sad, you're not alone.

Since I borrowed my husband 's car today, I had to drive him around after I'm done with it. No logic at first glance but yeah...
We were driving and about to change to another lane but didnt make it and I remarked "don't be sad, you're not alone" at one point. Then husbsnd replies "Im not sad, I should actually be happy if I'm alone." BOOOM! Thats not exactly far from what I would like to actually say myself.

Later after eating dinner when I had to pick him up again, we had to stop by at his workplace but there were still people coming in going when we got there. He was a bit surprised and seem to back off and said "why are there still a lot of people here? weren't we the last one from the resto and people are also showing up at the office?" He even took the time to "hide" in the car and wait til the other cars got settled or left. That is just so funny. He doesnt want his other coworker to see him show up there at night, after the office dinner, and ask him what are you doing here? I told him to just echo back the question along with a surprise look as well. Oh boy! Their work system is really something. This is just a common government employee. The private company employee would be more of a challenge.

posted from Bloggeroid

Telemarketing

Vent Blog

I just have to write this down.

1. Hindi lahat ng wife ay di nag-iisip. If you want to get to the husband through the wife for business or whatever, make sure you know your products or services well and be able to explain it to the wife first.  Just telling the wife to just let the husbands talk will get you nowhere even if your business is up and up. Long-time married couples usually would have already developed an unlabeled dual protection. We don't just pass off information of our spouses just like that. If you cannot explain it to the wife, better luck getting to the husband.

2. People who pass off info without giving you any heads up...specially if it will sound like a telemarketing thing. Come on..some decency please. I try to understand any possible circumstance that might have caused some people to do that but one should be aware.

Oh well...I've been married long enough.

Weekend Project: DIY Yoga Mat Bag

Planning about my upcoming trip made me think about yoga and my yoga mat.
I've wondered about making one myself before and I finally completed one today.

I was looking for what material that will be easy to find and work with by hand sewing. Recycling leg pants! I mentally searched my brain for any old ones we have but I didn't feel like digging up in the closet so thought how about some of the old ones I shopped off from my son's pants before. And I found these soft denims!

After measuring them, they weren't long enough so I had to add something to the middle. And guess what I found in my stash? Leftover scrap from my hand warmer project last time. 😁

The last bit of material I needed was the string. I know that I have a couple of extra shoelaces that came free with some Reebok shoes so I just have to find them somewhere. This is the best one that I found. Green ones but they will do.

Ad breaks on Korean TV and other countries...

It isn't the first time that the length and frequency of ads in regular Korean TV has caught my interest. It's one of the first things that I noticed when I first got here and just recently figured out that Korean household has some fee to pay if they have an existing TV at home even if it was just a regular free-to-air channel.
Viewers angry over commercial breaks
By Park Jin-hai

MBC and SBS, two of Korea's three major public broadcasters, surprised and angered viewers after they interrupted programs with commercial breaks last week. 

Viewers of the new dramas "Ruler: Master of the Mask" (MBC) and "Suspicious Partner" (SBS) both aired their first episodes May 10.

Half way into both shows, the broadcasters aired one-minute-long commercials with notices that the next 35 minutes of each drama would follow.

Under the current broadcasting law, public broadcasters cannot run mid-show commercials. However, for years the broadcasters claimed that this ban has been the main cause of their worsening financial situation and continuously called for scrapping it.

Regarding their apparent breaking of the law to get cash from the commercials, viewers showed anger for not being notified properly of the broadcasters' new advertizing format called "premium commercials." They complained their rights were violated.

"It was uncomfortable to see them split the shows in two in order to gain more profit from commercials. It really disturbs the flow of the story," said Shin Mi-hae, who watched "Ruler." Another viewer said, "Public airwaves are owned by the people, not broadcasters." 

Jang Bo-hye, another watcher, also said she was surprised by the pricing policy of the video on demand version, which treated the one episode as two episodes. The duration was the same but the price was doubled because of the split. "The abrupt break with the mid-show commercial is nonsense. Charging separate fees for the same show angers me even more," she said.

According to Korea Broadcast Advertising Corporation (KOBACO) data, the 15-second advertisement rate for a public TV weekday drama, where commercials are played before and after the show, averages 13.5 million won. But the rate for a "premium commercial," a de facto mid-show commercial, costs more. "Although the rate is not double or triple the price, as some say, it is true that the rate is way above the average," said a KOBACO official.

MBC claims that its move was in consideration of the changing content consuming patterns of viewers who are more prone to watching short-length content through mobile devices than watching full-length content on TV. "We thought viewers, who are now used to the American soap operas where each episode runs 30 to 40 minutes, can easily accept our new form as well," said a MBC official.

As for the lack of advanced notice, the official said "it was in the TV schedule."

SBS's position treated the single episode as two 30 minute episodes. "At the end of each episode, we ran the commercials. So they were not mid-show commercials," said an SBS official.

(Korea Times, May 2017)

This recent newspaper article reminded me of the stark contrast on the amount of TV ads in my adopted country ROK and home country PH. An hour program back home would have around 5 minute ads after every 10 minutes of the show. An hour block of prime time program would run for 35 minutes but would have 25 minutes of ad scattered in all throughout the hour. By the end of the hour, one would feel that they watched more TV commercial than the program itself.

This got me interested and google about how is it in other countries. I got this feeling that PH would be similar with US as it has heavily influenced the former in many ways. It turns out that that is the case indeed. Europe, on the other hand, is somewhat in the middle. Not extremely like here in ROK nor on the other end like US, or maybe worse as PH.

US.  half hour blocks sitcoms : 22 minutes
           Full hour shows : 44 minutes
The general rule on scripts: one page = one minute. 
8-10 mins of ads and programs promos

Almost the same in PH in terms of the length of ads and placements., or even worse.

EUROPE
1 to 2 ad breaks in an hour..or 5 minute ad break every half an hour. 

SWEDEN
15 to 20 mins ad breaks

FRANCE
9 mins ad breaks

Googling some more, an interesting comment in a forum caught my attention.

"TV tends to be a more social experience in the U.S. from what I remember. You talk during commercials, make a snack, play with the dog, make a phone call, etc. These days it seems like the ability to pause on demand has replaced that, so it's now it's just annoying."

Social experience. Talk during ad breaks, go bathroom, do a chore, etc. That's basically what I had seen. Growing up with the slew of ads running on every program on TV taught me to multi-task. I can still be productive while my eyes are glued on the TV waiting for the ads to finish. But yeah, anyone would come to a point of hating those seemingly never ending ads.

So when I got to Korea, the ads at the end of ech show were a welcome sight. I realized that I sure can learn a thing or two with those ads. But yeah, I do appreciate that I can have a whole 10 minutes block of ad, do what I have to do and I'll still know what time I should be back to catch my fave show. It's pretty efficient. And I can still multi-task, albeit with only chores that would just require my hands or whatnot.

Now, I'm a bit torn on these opposite settings. But I guess, it's a little bit of a point of no return. Once you've done away with the frequent ad breaks, it will be frustrating to actually go back to that frequent ad breaks anymore.

This can be an interesting essay topic for my son to write about one of these days. The pros and cons of the frequency of ad breaks.

That's it for tonight. Goodnight.

The SDA and EGW

Weekends make me ponder on spirituality. The church that I grew up in has it's flaws and has been branded as a cult in some places. This I learned later on when I was in my late teens. Growing up, it has all the good things that a decent person can live and grow up into. The rest day, the food, the healthy lifestyle were all good. Around mid-teens when I started to become more active in the church, joining evangelical programs and youth camps. Yet, it is also at this point that I stumbled and really question the inner workings of the church.

"A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing." or originally "A little learning can be a dangerous thing" ...(Alexander Pope, British poet)

Along the lines also come "Ignorance is a bliss." But I 'm not going that line of thought now. The little learning that I learned made me think about a lot of questions that were left unanswered or if answered, it didn't satisfy my inquisitive mind. I totally didn't buy the whole EGW thing the minute I heard that she is considered as the modern prophet of the church. This got worse when I learned about a set date of second coming failed miserably. It's just like any other groups that try to put out these things and it blows back into their faces. I questioned how the church try to do this evangelism to draw people in but cannot keep the back door to keep them in. It didn't really make me hate the church but I withdrew. I still try to keep the healthy and other lifestyle that makes sense to me. Or if not, some are just out of habit. I wouldn't feel comfortable doing so otherwise. I dared not to dig deeper into it.

I still believe in God. It's a struggle to continue doing so inside or outside the church I grew up in though. I am not looking for another church but to find my own state of spirituality. My dilemma now is being a mom. This is another road to figure out. Part 2.

The Fridge Puzzle

This past few weeks had been a challenging one on how to put together our food. I've seen a lot of fresh produce in the market with the spring season and it made me want to cook a lot of different things. Eggplants, cucumbers, broccoli, zucchini, minari (dropwort) and more! I have to list up the dishes that I want to make in order to keep track or else I won't be able to make anything.

To list:
marinated tofu to fry? (stir fry) or grill/broil as well..
sliced eggplant - to broil?,
cucumber in salt - boil egg and potato for salad
red kidney beans - ?
chicken soup - rice and lots of ginger
freeze the stock--

dishes to empty the freezer:
dumplings!!!
I've also got bread to toast with butter and garlic.

And there's still this fruit juice that I planned to bake into some sweet bread one of these days.. which I think I can mix with the frozen ground oats I have somewhere.
Boy! I do need to try to cook from the freezer more now. If I were to buy some produce, it would be the staples like garlic, onion and green onion maybe.

But right now, I've tried to grow my own green onion and leeks out in the veranda so let see how it will fare. Sometime later, I will have to prep my ginger box so that I can at least have 3 gingers heads growing fresh in my verandah even if I have some dried ones in my bottle.

Since I got a slight cold this week, I'll have to start the chicken soup today. I can do this!

And here are the results for the day! The leftover tofu broiled in the oven, the leftover salted cucumber from gimbap into a potato salad, the red kidney beans with frozen bell pepper, and onion jang achi, seasoned smoked paprika, cumin amd a bit of sriracha. And last but not the least, the whole wheat bread with an egg replaced by ground flaxseed!

I'll try to build a decent burger with the basic vegies tomorrow: tomatoes, onion, cucumber and lettuce. 

Time to clear up the mess after cooking up a storm in the kitchen. Nah! Nothing about skill but more on energy. Done!

Weekend Mind Wandering

The spring season is upon us as the cherry blossoms festival have started this month all over the country. That also signals increased outdoor activities and goods on sale related to it. I've seen camping and picnic goods so far, along with fitness and exercise goods.

Realistically, there is a very minimal possibility of my need for those. It is a bit different from my dreamland though. I would like to be able to let my son experience more outdoor on his teen years with a little similar with mine. Those memories will surely be treasured as one grow older. Things that a person will learn beyond the pages of a book, outside the walls of a classroom are priceless.

Being able to complete a long trek, sleep under the starry sky, survive a few days of limited comforts of daily life and learning that one can actually live despite the situation will hopefully build a person to become stronger as one faces adulthood.

Sitting on the "throne" made me dream of an outdoor adventure with my son in the near future. It also made me think of an adventure tour of sorts -- a specialized one. What possible activities should be included? trek/hike/ pitching tent/ starting fire without match, navigation etc. My mind is starting to go wild again. I remember a UPian blogging about a course like navigation in UP.

I have to tame it down for a bit. I would also like to do beach camping. I know that my folks had taken my son on one when he was younger and I do hope to be able to do that as well. It may be just a casual one with just simply sleeping in a tent by the beach. I think there's this place somewhere in my friend's hometown where that is possible. Beach camping.

I think I can try that here for now and see how they work it here. I know some expats occasionally do that round here. What will I need? Tent, sleeping bags, portable stove and cooking pots. My dad would probably just bring his bolo, hammer, saw and nylon tarp for the sleeping and kitchen need.

Back to the beach camping that may be more possible...P with the neighbor brothers at Fione's place. Just chill for 2N3D. When will that be possible? Let's work it out.

Signing off for now.

Super Out-of-Town Target Destination NEXT MONTH!

I'm pysched! I will be taking my first round of level 5 test, without really studying but what I'm psyched for is driving there. Not this time but on my next test. Ha!

This is the second time that I am heading in the same location but my husband gave me a ride on my first. This time, he has no plan to do that again since I didn't really study well, plus he is also busy. I volunteered that I can perhaps drive myself but he totally refused to let me do that. Still a bit risk he says. Well, yeah...it's not my car. What can I do? Instead, I'll be taking the chance to take the public transportation via train which will take more than half an hour more compared if driving. I'm going ask my son if he's interested to go for an adventure (plus moral support) but if not, I'll be fine to go alone. I'll stake out the area so that next time, I can more confidently drive by myself. Hoho! That's the plan! :D

As for the test, well, I really have to study more seriously starting now. I've seen a well-used book yesterday by a Viet thru a common Fil friend and wow! I should be doing just that and perhaps, I'll be in a better position with this tests. I'm thinking of doing the studying in the car at the parking lot after my swimming class. I can also go out there early and do that. Or go there on weekend and do that. We'll figure that out.

I can do this! I know! But for now, I have to figure out the public transport going there this weekend.

Morning Musings

This is the second day that my son goes to middle school. I've managed to let him eat a thick slice of bread and drink a cup of choco milk drink before he went downstairs at 7:45. I watched him from the window until he got on the bus. It was a bit of a wait for him out in the cold along with other kids who were also wearing similar uniforms. He thought it was going to be bulky if he just stuff the jacket in his bag later so he opted not bring one.

As the bus left, I checked what other buses come around this time online. I found that there are 1 or 2 more that he can take if ever he miss the 7:50. The tricky part is how long it would be walk from the bus stop to school. Bus ride alone takes 10-15 minutes, depending on time and passengers. I checked the buses coming and their locations as it is a bit tricky to figure out if the bus coming is going out or in since we only have one-sided bus stop. The one going the opposite way stops on the same bus stop. There is no way to know if the bus coming is going in or out unless I open another tab on the online menu or actually see the bus with it's LED out in front. Sometimes, even the latter can be wrong. The color-coded one online info is better. One can actually follow the bus' current location as it is updated real time, give or take a few minutes. It's almost creepy to think of that GPS thing on buses but it is pretty useful.

It made me reflect on how a parent would try to push the kid out in the world while still trying to keep the strings on him. He has been keen on taking the bus himself since day one of middle school and we've tried to teach him the basics. But as I chatted with him last night, he said he'll just follow the crowd. Ha! I guess he's not that ready yet? Even if I tried to let him find the stationery store to buy his supplies, he flat out told me that he doesn't know it, he's not good at navigating and he might get lost. Good or bad? I guess he won't be going anywhere except school anytime soon. I should be contented with that view for now.

We should do some more navigation trips later when we can. I noticed from our last trip to Seoul that he has stepped up a bit in navigating unlike our previous ones before where he simply didn't care and just relied on me for directions unless I try to push and ask him. This time, he was more involved although when I remarked that getting lost and navigating is fun, he tells me that it's the opposite. Where has his sense of adventure (a.k.a. Amazing Race spirit) has gone? Let's see what other changes will come these coming years. It would be totally nice to have him plan a whole trip by himself one day. I managed to let him do a bit of route research this time. He was the one who researched the trains and buses schedules and cost to COEX and this was because he wanted to go there in the first place. I'm not sure what other destination places would encourage him to do such. Or do so even if it wasn't a trip that he would like to take.

I actually like planning trips and such. But as I am a free spirit, I am very flexible. I have a plan, yes, just so that I will be on the safe side but at the same time, I can also tweak some on the fly provided that I have an extra info as back up. My son, at his age, is still a work in progress. It would be an interesting life trip ahead for him and see him navigate on his own in this so-called life.

My husband had his literal life trips on his own but it's really amazing how he did it considering that he suck at navigating streets. We've lived for more than ten years together in four different cities in between and he is like a homing-pigeon. He will only be be familiar with a couple of routes. That is probably why he ended up in Coron when his final destination was supposed to be El Nido when he first came to Palawan eons of years ago! I should've known better. :) He managed without his luggage and survived to tell the story and it's still a good one to remember now.

This reminded me about the interest to travel abroad soon together. Destination: Vladivostok, Russia. We all came up with possible interesting places. P, for Italy. Me, Greece. But both are a bit far for starters so Hubs kind of zeroed in Russia. Kid was interested in Russian language last year, and German this month due to hubs' encouragement mostly. Crossing my fingers that some family trip will happen soon!

Got to get to that uniform shirt for handwashing now, though.

Konmari and Capsule Wardrobe

I've decided to try the Konmari method of decluttering this month but it took me forever to get started and longer to get my head once I'm into it. Thus, the pile of clothes stayed there for how many nights.

After piling everything on the floor, I was at lost on how to actually to do it. Oh boy! I've managed to remove a few pieces which I can truly say "don't like" but I still got more "maybes" which I thought I would be happy to wear if the color or size changed. So for now, I have to put them somewhere else where I can still consider how to "fix" them up.

Then, I remembered this "capsule wardrobe" thing. The idea is good, moving to minimalism route but what I saw with most blogs means 33 or 37 pieces per SEASON! That will still total to more than 130. And some doesn't even include base stuff as they categorize other more activity-specific items. I have to rethink this a little bit more.

Ideally, I would love an all-season set just like how it can be possible if I live in the tropics. But sadly, that will be impossible. I have to be extra warm for winter but at the same time be mindful not pile up a lot of these thick stuff. I've bought a couple of pieces that made me doubt now if it was the right one. Buyer's remorse.

As much as I dnt want to think about those mistakes, I might as well take what I've learned from those buys. Never buy Uniqlo down because the fillers shed sooo much. My first down didnt shed that much within the first few months that I had it. This one, on the other hand, is a pain to wear next to anything dark and clingy textile. Ugh. My 40k should last for at least 3 winters. I can even stretch it for fall and spring as cold breaker and as layers during winter. 

I'm sure I still got a few more items that I wasn't that happy after using but let me just focus on the lessons I've learned about acquiring clothes and stuff.

Stick with my colors, and my shopping list. I have a shopping wish list that runs about twice a year, summer and winter. Fall and spring is pretty short here so I find it wiser to lump up fall with winter. As for spring, well, is there really one here? It's still cold for me until May so my fall and spring will pretty much be the same. I really don't mind the colors theme much as long as I am warm.

Learn to say no or let go. Growing up with limited budget (poor), I had always had hand-me-downs, and thrift shop clothes. Beggars can't be choosers. This is maybe why I had never developed my own "sense of style." I've never really cared much for clothes. I do remember a few items I really liked and was able to buy but these were few and between and I realized that shopping for style does not really come natural for me. My taste, or lack thereof, has led to a lot of buyer's remorse too often when I was in my teens. I always had to bring a friend with me to help me choose clothes when I actually had the money to buy one.

This has been my solution for a while but things change, I can't have stylish friend to drag all the time and shopping alone has become the norm for me. I have actually come to like it. I have to learn how not to commit the same mistakes again now that I'm older. This would mean doing my research.

Some realization came early like as much as I love the color yellow, it doesn't really look good on me. I've had this BH90210 over-sized yellow shirt back in my teens that I thought looked nice but not on me. Then there was this bright pink flower-patterned button-down top which doesn't really fit me and has wrong placement of buttons that it was just so annoying to wear later on. And I had to beg my mom to be able to buy that! Goodness!

This brings me to the current situation. I tend to get a few hand-me-downs because I am still on the slimmer side but I have to train myself to be able to remove things that just doesn't go with my theme because it just messes up stuff. One thing though is I still shop at thrift stores until early last year and still ended up with a few odd ones. What was I thinking? I knew I had to learn to say no and let go.

And finally, live with as little as possible and don't think about what other people would say as long as I am not hurting anyone. That's about it for now.

Let me go back to actually doing this clothes decluttering now. Another post for my plan!

My First Out-of-town Drive!

I drove out to the department store in the nearest town with P today!

It was definitely more than 35 minutes, well almost an hour for me. I checked out the route online since last night and there were just too many to choose from. I've learned that Daum and Naver  maps online have different features. Naver map shows other routes and these are highlighted just by dragging the cursor over the choices. Daum map, on the other hand, would only have one but I can add stopovers anywhere on the map and the route will be updated. I kind of prefer that one so I can customize the route I prefer to take. It's like a puzzle in my brain as to which ones I have already tried, then just add new routes and thus expanding my mental map.

This time, I planned on starting off at the KTX station and extend on to the bus terminal. It didn't turn out that way going there. We chose to go straight and follow the car GPS nav. We managed it alright without much glitch until we reached the parking lot. That always tricky parking at that department store.

Heading back home started out a bit lost after a few turns from the store block. I made a wrong turn somewhere but managed to change the destination to KTX again and figured it out back to the familiar intersection. I just tried to follow the car GPS again from there and emerged at my favorite bulk store. I feel better driving from there on. I felt hungry and tired already going back home so I chose the more familiar route. It will be less stressful and less possibility of mistake.
It took us around 45 minutes or so and my lower back bone was starting to hurt.

There's my out-of-town driving. The car GPS can be tricky but I can follow as long as I did my homework beforehand. At least, I'll have an idea on the layout of the area and notes on some landmarks.

Now I need a short power nap since I only had 5 hours sleep since 3:30 early this am. I still have a lot of stuff to do but I really need my nap!

 

Grad proj: Chocolate Bouquet

The idea came up to me last weekend to get something like a bouquet for my son's elementary graduation. I would generally skip stuff like this but I've asked him about such recently and I found out that he would also want to get something like that. So, even if I really don't subscribe to these kind of stuff, I had to consider. 

Instead of buying flowers, I thought about channeling my inner creativity and make it fun. I won't go for flowers, nor sweets like lollipop. I found the perfect match for what I want to give and my son will also love! The graduation themed chocolate pops! I got the perfect bouquet holder which P got on White Day last year, a dozen of Chupa Chups. That's a very good place to start creating my first chocolate bouquet. 

The initial plan was to find Flat Tops or Curly Tops coz I find Reese's way too sweet for my taste. Unfortunately, there wasn't any at the foreign mart. No choice but to settle for the Reese's. I got 6 pieces of BonBon instead. I also picked up a couple of chocolate bars, MnM's, chocopen, white straw and some plastic and paper for wrapping. 

On my second store run for some stuff I missed, I saw this lovely set of stickers perfect for people who likes to read like me and my son. 😊

It was very tricky to wrap the papers and plastic around red holder. I had to use a stronger tape not to let it slide down. I also had to staple the colored papers together. 

Feb Finance and Shopping...Week 2

BTC gone at 6k profit over the weekend.

Bluedio T2 Headset bought @ around 27k after the 10% discount. 

After almost a month since I looked into sending bitcoin by buying it @ around 1.126 then having it go down to 890k the next day made me think harder on how the BTC works. I couldn't touch that for a while until I have learned more about it. It's not something for the fainthearted. I left it there in BTC currency for a while. 

It started to hit the same levels late last week and I held on until it reached 1.2 until finally deciding to let everything go. Whether it goes up some more, I should be happy with the 6k profit for my trial purchase. I never really intended to trade but circumstances led me to it. I would have to think about it more and wait for it to go down again before trying to get a slice of the pie again if ever I decide to do so later. 

As for the other finance related thing, I finally decided to buy my second bluetooth headset to replace my faltering 2-year-old one. That one actually just lasted for about a year and the other months were spread over some "battery rest." It didn't work for a few months then suddenly comes alive after a tricky charging session. Totally unreliable. Totally no-brand phenomena so I thought about looking into a brand that has more google search results. Not a real fancy one as prices can go crazy when it comes to headsets and alike but just a decent one for my budget.
This one has been in the back burner since November last year weeks before the Black Friday. Why? Well, changing economics plus other priorities came up: my Woori installment savings ending, buying a Windows based computer, my son's uniform cost and stuff. 

With all these done, I can now get down to this headset. It certainly pushed me to do so since my husband has been complaining about my audios as I hang out and work around our small apartment unit. 

I've started researching for this last year and has found a brand that fits my budget. It was the first part. When I finally looked into it more specifically as I am about to buy, I was faced with the many models and confusing terms in buying such. It was a little overwhelming at first just reading the reviews and all. They are all flawed in this way or that. I couldn't really decide until I finally put them down on paper, disregarded the reviews, looked into what each model has and of course, the price.

There were about 4 in my budget range: HT, T2, T2S, T2 Plus, and T3. Since the reviews turned out to be mixed regardless of the prices, I had to use the prices in my elimination process. That still brought me down to two similar prices, T2 and T2S. I would have wanted the T3 since it's supposed to have a more sturdy built (non-less plastic) but I've also read some not-so-good reviews so maybe not the one to get for now as my first buy into this brand. I should just have to take good care of this plastic one (fingers crossed.) 

Comparing the T2, T2S and T2 plus was pretty tricky. The Bludio infographics on facebook helped. This one below plus a few more research on some terms like over ear, on ear, noise isolating, and noise cancelling gave me a clearer picture of these.

Infographics for comparison

T2 plus has both the SD slot and FM radio features which I would have liked but maybe next time. It might be a toss between T2 Plus and T3. For my first buy, I'm down to T2 and TS2.

T2S - on-ear, noise canceling, 223 g
T2 - over-ear, noise isolating, 224 g

So the questions that I have to figure out on this hunt are:

1. price range? -- Need I explain?
2. over or on-ear? --- Over-ear is bulkier than on-ear one. I would have preferred the on-ear but both having a foldable part evened it out a bit.
3. Noise canceling (NC) or Noise isolating (NI) - This last bit wasn't exactly on the top of my criteria before because I didn't really know better. I learned that isolating is more manual thing while cancelling is a bit more techy part. What worked for me was that NC works best with a continuous noise source and the other one is in a more varied/flexible environment. READ. Flexible. My kind of thing. Plus the info that low-end NI > high-end NC had me zero in on T2.

T2 is over-ear, has noise isolation feature and fits my budget. It is made of fragile plastic but can hopefully last for at least two years. Since I'm buying from gmarket, fixing and returns might be out of question. I just have to hope for the best and make the most of it. Just like my life's motto. ^^

The 15 day wait starts now. 

Last Week of Elementary for my Kiddo

This is the last one week that the kids go back to school as 6th graders and my son has finally decided to get his haircut.

We went for about 15 minute drive to B area just to get that 7k haircut and the Dunkins which also cost me with almost the same price. I really don't know why we decided to drive out there being a little far from our place but faster to get to since it has no traffic light at all along the way.

It was pretty cloudy and there was a bit of rain when we started out, not to mention that it was cold as well. We got there past 5, waited for a few minutes, and finish the haircut and buying donuts at almost 6 pm. We got to our apartment parking lot at around 6:15 so roughly 15-20 mins. (And I've become more familiar with the nearest exit to home.)

There's just this little "hiccup" with the hairdresser. She doesn't listen to the parent but the kid sitting on the chair. hahaha..I'd better be more tough next time if we ever go back there. Why they always think that "bangs" or "fringes" are the only way for the kids here? Duh! If everyone wears that haircut, then why is it difficult to be different? Pleeaase!! (Rants)😒

(Note: I've just discovered how to insert videos and smileys today. Well, I do know before but just didn't bother to do it.😀 )