invisibelle

I went to Minneapolis, then India, then Canyon Lake, and then Minneapolis again, and now I'm home, and my cats hate me.

I'm really tired, I'm taking the GMAT in like 4 days, and I'm getting married in about 20 days. I still haven't ordered food for the wedding.

There's a lasagna in the oven, though. I'm not hungry after cooking it because I ate a ton of ricotta in the process.

I don't even know what to tell you guys about India. I ... yeah. It's one of those things that you can't even explain in words. Let's just say that in the intervening 10 days I've had in the United States since coming back, I've at least slowly started coming to grips with the fact that I have to go back for an entire month. Soon.

I'd just really, really, really rather go somewhere that a) has potable water and b) is not full of a billion people who want to chat with me.

That is all.

It's always weird to me when a page's stats have the same digits as the previous month, like this page i'm looking at was 6,827 in january and now 6,782 in feb, and I think, oh, they're going to think I'm making this up. even though that's less than 1% different and the probability isn't that low considering they never change the page... anyway. i just felt like saying it.

when I was a kid I used to always tell my parents from the back seat if the odometer was about to do something interesting. like 'hey the odometer's about to hit 59595.' that sort of thing.

guys.

this is a big day. SUPER JUNIOR IS BACK!


The music video for Sorry Sorry, FINALLY:


KBS Music Bank comeback stage! waiting room plus Why I Like You (click through for HD version)
(also omg the girls scream so much for teuk @ 2:58 ♥)



also! same stage, Sorry Sorry, choreography done by some white guys who work for justin timberlake. (haz clic aqui for el HD)
(check out the best bitchy sungmin ever @ 1:55, god I love it)


aaaaaaaaaand pretty much the best thing ever:

the best girl band in the whole wide world, onstage, winning for the zillionth week in a row, breaking all records, and there with them are the other giant group in the SM family, the suju. And the encore is so fantastic with all 21 (or 22?) of them onstage.

SNSD did a special Valentine's Day performance of their old hit Kissing You yesterday. It's notable for a couple of reasons:

1. The HD version is so clear that you can see the glitter on their tiny, adorable, surgically enhanced eyelids.

2. Supercute magnae Seo Hyun sang really well (she's my 2nd favorite after Hyo Yeon).

3. Last, and most importantly, this is the best demonstration of what their hilarious and kinda creepy fanbase looks like - appears to be mostly men in the 25-35 range, though I did see one bald guy.

S said after I made him watch this video with the schoolgirl outfits that they're a "creepy white guy's fantasy." I've never thought of it that way, but really, I'd be happy with them getting popular among creepy white guys if it meant they'd perform in the US more than once a year.


(best to click through and watch in HD. y'know, glitter and whatnot.)

thefridayfive: I've never done this before, but I just feel like it today.

What activity can you not believe you survived in your childhood?
We moved to a house with a very deep swimming pool when I was 5. I didn't know how to swim yet, and did on one occasion fall in (the deep end, of course). Thankfully, my dad was standing nearby and happened to notice. Even after I learned to swim, though, we horsed around so much in the pool, on the slide, on the diving board... I am really lucky I never seriously injured myself.

What activity can you not believe kids get away with today?
I just saw a kid in a restaurant wearing a very ill-fitting princess type dress, practically falling off, that was obviously part of playing dress-up. I've also seen kids in public wearing those terrible dress-up high heels that don't fit. I never would've been allowed to wear either outside the house, it doesn't make sense. I think parents are ridiculously indulgent in their kids' whims these days, but as part of a generation that won't ever quite grow up, I worry that the same will happen with me and mine.

If you could be anyone else in the world live or dead, who would you choose to be?
I don't like questions like this. If I give an answer, does it automatically mean that I don't like being myself? Sometimes I do think I'd like to be someone who lives a simpler life, though.

A lot of people think they've been in love at 15 or 16 years old, do you think you now look back and think you were a stupid kid or do you believe that you were old enough to know what love is?
Yes. I have had a lot more experience with love and relationships than most people I know. Even with all that, or maybe especially with all that, I believe that my love at that age was real. It may not have been as mature, or well informed, as my relationships today, but it doesn't make the love less real. In fact, with all those hormones, maybe it was MORE real. It's debatable.

Do you think it is possible to remain in love with someone you once loved, but haven't seen in a year?
That's complicated. My answer is yes, except that the other person may have changed enough in that year that the person with whom you're in love might not exist anymore. Which is a bummer.

I had the best massage ever yesterday, for under $20. My neck still feels great the next day, which was the true test for me. It was all jacked up from the flights, so I couldn't resist spending a little time. The place was a tourist trap, but man, whatever it was, that guy was AWESOME.
Dude was not at all afraid to use his elbows.

Flower market at the fair in Victoria Park

Pretty much the cutest thing I've ever seen. I'm told kumquat trees are good luck for the new year, so I've already seen quite a few around (notably, on the Burger King counter at the airport - I was mystified by that before Aks told me why it was there). The above, I'm sure most can agree, is the cutest kumquat tree in the history of kumquat trees, though.


The view from Aks' window. I'm impressed that the construction scaffolding, at left, is made of bamboo. Behind the tree is the ocean, though it's hard to see in the photo.


A guy carrying a giant Ferrero Rocher on a stick. I saw 2 or 3 people with these last night. Pretty awesome.


Another of HK - for hello_jaime, if nobody else. :)

Alas, Aks' computer does not read my memory card easily, so this may be the last picture post until I get back.

Well, I was going to post pictures, but I'm having issues with my memory card. Not sure what's going on, but I'm attempting data recovery. In the meantime, I'm just chillin' here, so I thought I'd at least post about what's been going on so far.

As I mentioned yesterday, the flight to Seoul was really bad. In the end, I've decided that it was really the leg cramp that made it terrible. That was the thing that kept me awake when I was so sleepy. And then, of course, after wandering Incheon airport for 5 hours (midday for Seoul, but midnight to 5 am, CST) as an extreme jet lag buster, I completely passed out on the 4-hour flight from Seoul to Hong Kong. I don't sleep easily, but this time I actually fell asleep before we even took off. That's just nuts.

I wish, in retrospect, that I'd tried the transit showers at the Seoul airport. That's just an experience I would've liked to say I've had, heh. And it probably would've helped me stay awake. Even after traipsing all over the airport and giving myself blisters, I sat at the gate for at least an hour, probably more.

Something I didn't realize until the end of the long trip was that I'd been continuously eating meals for about 24 hours. Breakfast at the airport, 2 meals on the plane (mmm famous Korean Air bibimbap - I'll try to get a pic on the way back. It was cute, the flight attendant gave a little "yess" type gesture when I chose the bibimbap), then another meal at Incheon airport (I have been determined to wait to try a Korean stew for the first time until I was in Korea itself - I had yook gae jang, yum), another meal on the flight to Hong Kong... it was just crazy. One's body must rest eventually. Thankfully I've suffered no ill effects so far.

It's now looking like I will probably be able to get photos to y'all. Which is good, because omg the cuteness... there was Hello Kitty stuff everywhere on the HK transit system, I <3 <3 <3 this place. And there are these beautiful kumquat trees everywhere for the new year celebrations... I just love it.