Fight for the fittest

You know one of the things that annoy me to death? Let me ask you this- When someone's working out at the gym and using a machine doesn't that obviously mean they're still using it?? Why do people (usually the elders) think that standing right in front or behind you will help speed up your workout process? Where's the degree in common courtesy? Today as I'm using the cable extensions, some guy walks up to me and asks if I'm still using it. Well, duh. If my hand is making contact with it and my body is aligned with the machine then that would only mean one thing.....I'm still on it! As I reply "yes" to him, he replies back with, "Ok, I'm going to use it when you're done." Ok......good for you, I guess...... *using my 'whatever' look*

Ummm, last time I checked the gym had no indication of a waiting list. It's first come first serve, is it not? It's as if the guy was expecting it to be my duty to make sure I had it reserved for him or something. So then I continue on with my arm workout. As I'm trying to focus on my last 2 sets I see him prancing around doing random exercises to kill his wait time. Come on, man. Couldn't you be a little more discreet then that?? I mean, I know you can do more than 10 pounds on that leg press and I'm pretty sure you can lift more than 5 pounds with that dumb bell. *ssiiigh*

So, I give in to this awkward pressure and decide to cut my set short. You know, I was trying to have common courtesy and I figured that this workout wasn't as important to me as it obviously is for this man. I stop mid way and walk off to my next exercise. Of course the man darts towards the machine like it's a $100 bill on the floor or something and starts his "workout."

Now as I'm doing some ab crunches I'm watching the man in the mirror (just because he happens to be behind me.)

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I sit up to do my 5th crunch...............and guess what?????? The freaking dude is done!!!!!!! Are you *beeping* kidding me??? I got off the arm extensions so this old man can do 5 measly turns??? That's not even a full set of 10!! What kind of results is he going for??? The "waste your time and energy to piss people off" look??

Man, I was livid. I went out of my way to get off the machine early so he can go out of his way to jump in all for 5 puny turns?????? *aaaaggghhhh* That right there just set me off and ruined my whole gym workout for the morning. I had to run off my anger then call it a day.

Lesson learnt- Don't stop your exercises for anybody that cares to cut them short. They're obviously douches anyway to interrupt in the first place so play the douche role back and sit there for another 20 minutes while slowly sipping out of your water bottle after each and every turn.  The end. :)

Central Taiwan tour map

Below is a map of our Central Taiwan tour, which had the goal of seeing the famous Sun Moon Lake, but also exploring cities on the way such as Jiji, Shueili, Puli and Nantou. It ended with the visit of the Fengjia Night Market in Taichung. The first map marks the way from Taipei to Jiji via train, the second one marks the tour around Nantou county. Use these maps to navigate through the areas. Every link will lead you to my blog post about a certain spot.

A Taipei Main Station

B Jiji (with a stopover in Ershuei)

View Larger Map

A Jiji

B Shueili

C Sun Moon Lake

D Puli

E Caotun

F Zhongxing New Village

G Nantou City

H Fengjia Night Market Taichung

View Larger Map

[Introduction to my CENTRAL TAIWAN trip][My TAIWAN TRAVEL page]

My Favorite April Kpop videos/songs

ORANGE CARAMEL- BANGKOK CITY







4MINUTE- MIRROR MIRROR







RAINBOW- TO ME








BIGBANG- LOVE SONG







F(X)- DANGER







BLOCK B- DON'T MOVE/STOP/FREEZE







HANDSOME PEOPLE- CRAZY







CHI CHI- DON'T PLAY AROUND

Easter Sunday

AAAGHH! SWEETS GALORE!!

Random Mix 2

Anthony's mom cooks the best korean food. It makes my stomach smile.......

Look at this teeny tiny korean breath mint. Looks like a BB pellet.

I love asian pears

I love asian cellphone charms. They make anything look that much cuter.

She's everywhere.......

My new summer gum

Eating lunch at work

I love drowning my spaghetti with extra extra parmesan cheese.

Look how long my shellac nails have lasted. Instead of chipping they started to lift which I could just peel off.

This is what it looks like shopping on a weekend

My friend's husband l-o-v-e-s warcraft as you can tell by his pictures in their guest room

This is what our cabinet looks like- full of korean instant coffee :)

April Haul 2011

This month is passing by so fast. I have so much to do yet little time to do it. Before we leave for our vacay I want to make sure our place is spotless and clean. There’s nothing worse than coming back to a dirty home. *blaaa* You know, I just realized that we haven’t been using our dishwasher in over a year now. Ever since it broke we were just too lazy to make a phone call get it repaired . Since then we’ve been cleaning them by hand in which, I prefer anyway.
 
The day before yesterday I seized the opportunity to squeeze in sushi with Karina, and later in the night the mall was beckoning me for a visit. How could I refuse? :P I’ve been trying to be really good with not spending any unnecessary money, but these ‘wants’ that I came across somehow converted into ‘needs.’ Ahh, the story of my shopping obsessed life.
 
I guess you can call this my April Haul-

White or any color in it's family usually gets passed by when clothes shopping. It just seems like the world is out to get anything of that color dirty or stained. The long cardigan I found at Forever 21 was only bought because it was on clearance for $8.......and the pockets were cute. :) Another shirt that's getting packed for my trip.

I normally don't like buying shoes from Forever 21, but the black ones I found were surprisingly really comfortable. I tested them out at work yesterday and the 8 hrs of wear were friendly to my feet. *score* Now I got me some cute work shoes for only $16.

The orange ginger lotion I got from Bath and Body Works was influenced by a coworker. The last couple of days I would notice how nice she smelt every time I passed by her office. So, I asked her what perfume she was wearing and she said she wasn't. She was only wearing the lotion and just reapplies it throughout the day. She whipped it out of her desk and showed it to me as I reached out and to sample some. Normally I despise any type of citrus/lime/mango/lemon lotions or sprays for myself, but once it was applied to the skin it smelt totally different than in the bottle. This lotion pairs well with my new Marc Jacobs Daisy eau so fresh perfume. This lotion is a great summer scent.

Now I know I just said I don't care for the citrus fruit smells, but the Body Shop has this great product that I love. These products (and the orange ginger lotion) are the only exception that I have made and some how grew on me. The $20 vitamin c spray seems expensive for some water stuff that you spray on your face, but it is very invigorating on a hot, sweaty, exhausting day. I carry this to work whenever I need a pick-me-upper and it does the job. I love any type of spf lotion so I wear the orange face lotion as a primer with my Laura Mercier oil absorbing powder. The pink flirt lipstick and face illuminating creme were kind of bought on a whim due to sales pressure as you may call it. The associate there told me I could pick out 2 more items since they're sale was buy 3 get 2 free. I might as well have. Oh, and now that summer is coming exfoliating the body is good to start prepping yourself for a nice smooth and glowing skin.

The Dior lipstick was actually a gift from my recently passed bday. I started wearing it to help gloss up the pink flirt lipstick. 

And last, the Maybeline mascara. This mascara works great to volumize the lashes. I've been loyal to this specific tube since high school. Normally this mascara is $6-$7, but Ulta had it on sale for 4 bucks! *another score*


Side note- Has anyone tried the feather extensions? I like the way it looks and I've been looking to get them done sometime this month......

Dragging feet....

So, I know I haven't been really consistent with my posts and I apologize.........(if anyone cares..... :P) I've been so busy (the typical excuse all bloggers use) and what more can I say? Maybe I could care to get into details of my busy busy bee week for starters.

Well, work has been a little bit more demanding and by the end of the day I'm worn out. It doesn't help that the sun's rays drain me of whatever energy I have left as well. I'm semi-stressing on my school major too because my mind keeps changing every freakin' week. Come on, Michelle!! Why can't you just be consistent?? I mean, I know that I'm working towards being a future educator, but I get opinions/advice from every which direction everyday. This kind of shifts my thinking abilities of playing out my plans and is starting to take a toll of me. Not that I'm easily influenced but I do respect the wise and the elders, and I like to hear their spin on things. I was working on getting a general education degree, but according to some that's just too vague or not solidifying enough. Teachers that I've encountered at work or through others recommend that I actually major in a specific subject. In other words, get a degree in something that I might be passionate about and then once the BA is accomplished get a teaching certificate. That seems somewhat easier. But what else can I major in?? My mind changes like my clothes and I can't keep a certain thing in mind. Just when I thought I would like dabbling into nutrition others disagree. Business degrees are more in demand along with political science or even accounting. Yeah.....all of which I have no passion or drive for. I don't know about some, but if I don't have an interest in something it's hard for me to keep focus. I might be tempted to skip classes, sleep in, slack off, and worse of the worse....blackmail people into copying off their papers. hahaha.

Speaking of blackmailing, this reminds me of a somewhat funny story that shall never leave my memory. When I was in elementary school my teacher would spend 15 minutes reading chapters out of this adventure thriller book she had. The point was to learn new and different vocabulary words, use our listening skills, and pretty much just sit there and pay attention. After the 15 minutes was up she would ask a series of questions to test our attentiveness. Once she asked the question she would then would draw a name out of a bucket in which that student had to stand up and answer. Mind you, this counted as part as our reading grade and everyone would dread this activity.Not only was the book boring, but it really made no sense. The plot would bounce around and we wouldn't know who was what character. Anyway, of course my time had come. I was guilty of not paying attention that day (instead I was writing notes back and forth with my friends) and my name was called. First of all I had to ask her to repeat the question (which is always a no-no in any teacher's eyes) so that there already gave it away that I wasn't paying attention. "In the book, Charlie is pressured my his friend's blackmail. What does that mean?" The teacher asks me. Man, I was so nervous I could feel and hear my heart thumping ever so loud through my chest. I had a hunch on what blackmailing was but I didn't feel confident enough to take that chance in front of the other 25 students peering at me. If I got it wrong that's 25 laughs all shifted towards me. So, I decided to play it safe and went the obvious route you could say. My reply was, "Ummmmm......what that means is that Charlie's friend had a friend that was a black male." There was silence in the room......and boy, was it awkward. "Thank you, Michelle. You may sit back down." The teacher replies leaving me with a stern cold look on her face. She then passed the question on to someone else that was then answered correctly........which is what my hunch was. Damn it, why didn't I just go with it???? That was one of the many embarrassing moments in my life. Ahhh, the good ol days.

Feels so good being bad

“Hey, so what was your score on your last 2 math tests??”
 
“Um, I believe it was an 89 and 95%”  
“Oooh. Okay, okay. Wow, that’s pretty good.”
 
“Why, did you need help or some tutoring done?”  
“Yeah, something along the lines of that.” *grin*
 
“It’s really simple once you get the formulas down. This is my second time taking this class and it really depends on the teaching of the professor. It’s a fine line between passing or failing.”  
“Yeeaaah, I know.” *getting hesitant* “Hey, would you be, uh, interested in a favor/offer??”
 
*looking somewhat confused* “Well, it depends. What is it?”  
“I do need help on passing this test. Would you be willing to let me sit next to you to "check" my answers with yours before you turn it in? I would pay you of course.....…$30 sounds good? Ah heh heh. *light dry laugh*
 
*blank stare*  
“Um, never mind. I was totally kidding….kinda. Just think about it. *waving myself away and feeling somewhat nervous hoping that the girl won’t rat me out to my professor for bribery* :S
 
*Walking back to my desk……finding my next victim.* bwhaha…
 
 
Maybe I came off too strong. Maybe I should have played more of the victim role and got teary eyed. My classmate was one alternative out of the few I had mentally selected out.
 
There is this other lady that sits in front of me that looks somewhat like a druggie, buuut I don’t want her to get all offended or anything. I don’t want her to think she’s some piece of meat that I can pay off to do my dirty work. I can imagine her feeling that way being that she’s all drugged up and stuff. You know, paranoia could kick in at any given moment. She could go crazy on me!
 
Whenever I pass by her in class she reeks of alcohol and stale cigarettes. Her clothes are so skin tight I can see every ripple on her body. I applaud women that feel confidant in their own skin……but please spare me the butt cheek shot when wearing the short shorts.
She might be willing to take the $30 offer. Imagine how many cartons of cigarettes she could buy?? ……Ok, so nowadays it’s not that much. But one is better than none. :P Yeah, that will be my persuasive line.

Well, anyway. I would take the money if someone came across to me with such a proposal. Money talks......in certain situations, and this is that situation. Gas prices are rising and we could use a little change in our pockets. *wink*

So, what was the conclusion you may ask?........................

Well, I was too scared to ask Ms. Druggie and I couldn't bring myself to bribe any more other innocent people. I just withdrew from the class and decided to retake it next semester. Not that I was totally failing it, but let's just say I was skidding in a thin C line. Haha. I'm not going to let this little measly math test ruin my GPA! Plus, I admit. I haven't been giving my whole attention and study time to this class either. Math is my least favorite subject so there's no motivation. *blah* Once I come back from my vacation my head will be clear and I'll be all ears next time around.

Blah.....

My only day off has now turned into a sick day. What I thought was just a little sign of dehydration turned out to be food poisoning. Of course it just so happened to fall on my school day as well, but luckily it was mild at that time. The puking didn't really take in effect until the evening. Darn you leftover frozen pizza *clenching fist* I'm so traumatized by processed food now. I guess I just assumed it was good to eat 3 days later since it had all these preservatives in it already. ;P Wrong.

I slept tossed and turned all day yesterday. My stomach was rumbling so loud, but my body would get queasy at the thought of just eating anything. It was a lose-lose situation.

 It felt good to lounge around, but I was disappointed because I had many things to accomplish. My kitchen looks like a deserted tenant lives here, I needed to clean my clothes (mainly because I'm 1 clean underwear away), and I planned on doing some grocery shopping. All those plans just thrown out the window.

Today I called off work to recover. I woke up with a dizzy spell and needed to force some H20 in my system. Youtube makes a great companion on rainy days or sick days like these.

Lately, I've been going through tea phase. Ever since I've been working out I hopped on the green tea wagon and kind of enjoyed it. Actually, I can't stand the taste of straight green tea so I get the ones that are mixed in with some other type of fruit......preferably pomegranate or cranberry. Now whenever I'm just sitting around I tend to drink my water warm too. It's more soothing that way I think. Every night before I go to bed I have to drink up a warm mug of water....it puts me at ease. ;)

Korean Wedding Dresses-Modern and Traditional

The beginning of spring has begun along with the wedding season. April and May are ideal months here for the bells to ring and the birds to sing. I love going to weddings. They're so beautiful........and I like to collect ideas to save for my future, future date. :P And you can't forget the food. (my favorite part....hehe)

It's weird seeing my friends getting married. It feels like yesterday we were just sitting in class giggling and writing notes to each other about our first boyfriend crush. Along with the marriage comes the baby. Baby??? I sometimes forget that we are now young adults ready to develop our own lives and family. It's just so weird.......We're growing up so fast. *tear*

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