Crater Lake – The Everlasting Blue

Hello again, friends!  Here I am with a little post regarding my inexplicable road trip to Southeast Oregon, where I had good times, good times with three of my favorite people in the whole wide world. ♥ Adventuring.  Discovering.  Shopping.  Side-splittingly funny rounds of Mad Libs.  Singing a beautiful High Mass at a hermitage in the middle of nowhere.  Food, friends, and more fun than I could have ever imagined.

Smiles.

I wish I had more time to chronicle the events of this wonderful weekend and wander off into the wilderness of intricacy and expression, but alas, I do not, so I will focus my thoughts today on my experience viewing Crater Lake for the first time in my life.

What can I say?  This is so very difficult to write about.  There are simply no words.  Viewing Crater Lake is one of the moments that take your breath away.  No poem, no prose could do this natural phenomenon justice.  All I can say is that everybody needs, not should, needs to visit Crater Lake National Park at least once.  No bucket list is complete without it!  It’s stunning.  Gorgeous.  Mystifying.  Inspiring.  Pearl sapphire blue.

 

I’m incredibly eager to visit again in the summer.  I can’t imagine how the water could possibly be any bluer, but I will definitely be back in a few months.

It was truly a day—no, a weekend—to remember.  It broke through the monotony of my student/teacher life, and provided me with an opportunity to “stop and stare.”  I feel rejuvenated, not only in body and mind, but soul as well.

Finals week, bring it.  You’re going to be pwned like a WoW noob.  (lol)

…Keep calm and carry on! ^_^

Oregon Asian Celebration 2014 Photos

I know, I know, I’m so behind with my blog posts again! ;__; I don’t have the time nor the energy (finals week…yeah) to write a full-length post on this year’s Asian Celebration (February 15th-16th), but I just wanted to share with you all the photographs that I took at the event, along with some brief comments.

On a side note...I've got lots of great blog posts coming soon!  My Crater Lake experience & road trip journal, The Writerly Life #2, February Favorites, reviews, and more!  Stay tuned.  *^o^*

Enjoy~!

My love for Asian street fashion has added quite a bit of leopard to my wardrobe!  Here are my new high top sneakers and the manicure I wore to the event.

DragonVine's booth.  So much anime, Ghibli, and Sanrio! ♥

Just about the cutest Hello Kitty iPhone case I've ever seen, and a funny book I found. (Dr. Haha Lung? What?? lol)

My good friend Tim performs as part of a demonstration 

with his fellow members of the U. S. Tae Kwon Do College.

 Left: As I waited for a calligrapher to finish writing my name in Chinese, I listened to this man perform a LotR tune on a traditional Japanese instrument.

Right: Naruto ran into Kirby, and things went horribly, horribly wrong.

Left: South Korea represent!

Right: Raspberry Bubble Tea. ♥

Yum!  My latest foodie addiction.

I didn't have a whole lot of money to spend this time around, but here are my spoils. :-)

JANUARY FAVORITES ♥

I hope that the New Year has been good to you all so far!  January went by so quickly, didn’t it? It’s crazy, but I admit that I have indeed been very busy and I’ve gotten a lot done (hence, this post is rather late, hah), so I’m feeling good about that.  2014 is certainly looking to be quite a year for me.  I’m taking my final required course for my degree this term, which means nothing but electives from here on out.  Looks like I’ll be graduating next year!  Yay!

My friends and I have already put together a to-do list of sorts for the summer and beyond.  It includes the regulars such as the Scandinavian Festival and Wordstock, but we’ve been looking into other events and opportunities as well.  I’m excited, and am eagerly looking forward to what’s to come. ^_^

It’s snowed here, again!  We’ve definitely got more than a foot out there.

Speaking of snow…

This past month, I finally watched Disney’s Frozen, and I feel that this is an appropriate opener for my January Favorites!

Frozen is amazing.  Disney has done it yet again.  The characters, the visuals, the world, the MUSIC.  I can’t believe that I waited as long as I did to watch it.  Christmas season was just so busy for me! >u< 

That being said…I don’t love it quite as much as Tangled, though, sorry.  That movie just has a very special place in my heart that can’t be replaced!

♪ Let it go!  Let it goooo!  Turn away and slam the doooor! ♫

Sigh.  Sometimes, I wish my life was a musical.

Next is a music favorite for the month (besides Let It Go): Imagine Dragons’ Night Visions album.  I’ve had this album for a while now, but recently (taking a break from k-pop? no way!) I dug it back up and have been listening to it nonstop!  I would say that it’s one of my favorite albums ever, and I’m so very glad that I purchased it in its entirety.  Imagine Dragons has a really unique sound.  Their songs are so harmonious and catchy, and the group utilizes many different instruments and synthetic effects to add interesting texture. 

My favorite songs off of Night Visions are “Demons,” (who doesn’t like this song?!) “Every Night,” and “Fallen.”

With the weather even more frigid now, one can imagine that my problem skin hasn’t been taking the cold very well—WRONG!  :P  I’ve taken well-educated measures to ensure that my skin condition does not worsen, and thankfully, my efforts have paid off.  Lately I’ve been focusing on using as many natural products as possible, such as Vaseline as an all-purpose emollient, and aloe vera gel to combat redness and dryness.  I’m still using my Cetaphil cleansers and lotions daily, as well as a hydrocortisone cream to soothe my psoriasis, but the product that I’ve found especially helpful as of late comes from Japanese skincare and makeup company DHC, and is called Deep Cleansing Oil. 

My mom swears by this stuff, and now that I’m using it regularly, I see why.  Not only does this oil-based cleanser completely remove makeup, it also soothes irritations and leaves skin feeling super clean, smooth, and relaxed.  I use this cleanser at night to remove makeup, after a warm rinse and before my regular cleanser.  DHC products are a bit pricier than even the more expensive drugstore brands, but in the case of their Deep Cleansing Oil, I think that it’s well worth it.

Drink of the month: homemade lattes!  I’ve been exploring my city lately and going to a lot of fancy cafes (there are lots here in Eugene!) with my friends, and these experiences have inspired me to be more creative with my afternoon cup of joe.  So here’s a little recipe of mine for you guys to try! (Photo not mine!)

French Vanilla Latte

Makes 2 servings

2 cups milk

2 teaspoons real vanilla extract

Sugar to taste

Dash of salt

1-2 cup(s) brewed French roast coffee

In a small pot, heat milk, vanilla, sugar, and salt, whisking until mixture is frothy.  Do not boil.  Pour coffee into large mugs.  Add milk mixture up to the brims.  If you can, make a little design in the froth as you pour.  …If not, it’ll still be delicious! ;)

Enjoy~!

Finally, to end this post, I’d like to make mention of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD for the Wii U.  I received this video game as a Christmas gift, but hadn’t been able to find the time to start playing it until about two weeks ago.  I could hardly believe that it’s been more than ten years since the original Wind Waker released.  I was about twelve years old!  It’s just nuts how time flies!

Similar to my Ocarina of Time 3D experience, it’s truly magical to play this video game remake in gorgeous HD graphics and sound.  I’m reliving one of my favorite childhood games all over again!

…And that’s it for January!  Stay warm, everyone!

The Writerly Life Vol. 1: Music ♬

Hello, hello! :D

Before I share my January Favorites with you all, here is entry number one of a new series of blog posts that I have entitled The Writerly Life.  In these blog posts (which are inevitably destined to be quite random and sporadic), I will be discussing the many different ways (the method to my madness, so to speak!) in which I glean inspiration from the world around me.  I was also be sharing various writerly thoughts and experiences.  I hope everyone will enjoy these posts, and that you will be able to glean something of value from what I write!

Now then.  It is a well-known fact that every respectable writer has a set playlist composed (no pun intended) of favorite inspirational and motivational songs.  She listens to this playlist while she writes, because silence is innerving and because music is just beautiful! ♥

…Well.  That’s just me, anyway.  All of you who know me personally know that music is a crucial aspect of my life, not only as a writer, but as a person in general.

I prefer to listen to relatively calm, yet exuberant, and harmonious music while I write.  Songs like this are tranquil enough so that I can easily think while listening to them, but are also exciting enough to get my creative flow flowing.  Harmony is absolutely essential.  I simply can’t listen to any heavily synchronized, auto-tuned, and/or synthetic sound while writing.  So annoying and distracting!

On that note, I don’t usually listen to songs with lyrics when I’m writing.  The literary nerd side of me tends to kick in and suddenly I start explicating the lyrics and then…yeah.  I end up writing other things besides what I sat down to write! ^^; I have a bad habit of being counter-productive.

That’s where I’ve found k-pop to be quite handy.  I’m in love with the human voice (particularly warm tenor voices, i.e., Kyuhyun’s), so sometimes I simply must listen to a song with lyrics, and the milder k-pop stuff (such as Super Junior’s more vocal songs) has proven to be perfect for me.  Because let’s face it, I don’t speak Korean, so the lyrics can’t distract me in themselves. 

Also, epic movie soundtracks can and do certainly inspire epic book scenes!

Of course, what I’m listening to generally does depend on what kind of scene I’m writing.  It wouldn’t make much sense to listen to Romance in the Air while writing a scene about a character’s death, for example. X)

So for the purposes of this blog post, I have put together two, 20-track playlists (songs are not in any particular order)—one instrumental and one with vocals—of my favorite, all-purpose writing songs as of February 3^rd, 2014. ☆ Just click on the song titles if you want to listen to them on YouTube! ^_^

Enjoy~!  I hope that you find something that inspires you.

♪ Instrumental Playlist ♫

Song of Storms from SUPER SMASH BROS. BRAWL

Romance in the Air from THE LEGEND OF ZELDA

Ocarina of Time Medley from SUPER SMASH BROS. BRAWL

Spirit Temple from THE LEGEND OF ZELDA

Gerudo Valley from THE LEGEND OF ZELDA

He’s a Pirate from PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN

Immortal by Thomas Bergersen

Kiss the Rain by Yiruma

Wind Queen by Two Steps from Hell

Never Winter by Two Steps from Hell

Love and Loss by Two Steps from Hell

Archangel by Two Steps from Hell

The Saltwater Room (Owl City) by Piano Tributes

Kingdom Dance from Disney’s TANGLED

Autumn (Full Movement) by Vivaldi

Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven

Symphony No. 5 in C Minor by Beethoven

Affections Touching Across Time from INUYASHA

Song of the Caged Bird by Lindsey Stirling

Crystallize by Lindsey Stirling

♪ Vocal Playlist ♫

Evenstar from THE LORD OF THE RINGS

My Kantele by Loituma

A Day by Super Junior

Andante by Super Junior

Storm by Super Junior

Hanamizuki by Super Junior-K.R.Y.

Bittersweet by Super Junior

Daydream by Super Junior

Fuzzy Blue Lights by Owl City

Iridescent by Linkin Park

I See the Light from Disney’s TANGLED

Siulil A Run by Celtic Woman

Tha Mo Ghaol Air Àird A' Chuain from Disney’s BRAVE

Never-Ending Road by Loreena McKennitt

Caravanserai by Loreena McKennitt

Memories by Within Temptation

I Dreamed a Dream from LES MISERABLÉS (2012)

Sakura by Ikimono Gakari

Clarity by Zedd ft. Foxes

Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls