2013 Review

(Thinking that this post will improve my mental stability)

Looking back on 2013 

• 1:What did you do in 2013 that you’d never done before?

• I failed at every single attempt at pulling an all nighter in 2013. I would eventually fall asleep sometime in the night....

• 2:Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

• I didn't have a new year resolution for 2013. Why? Because why make annual resolutions when you can spontaneously and frequently decide to better yourself in a shorter span of time. #efficiency
• And no I will not make more for next year. I might change my mind in the future who knows. I might jump on the bandwagon.

• 3:Did anyone close to you give birth?
• No.. but my aunty did give birth to a baby girl. New cousin. It's been almost 2 months and I still haven't seen her. WHAT IS THIS.

• 4:Did anyone close to you die?
• No.

• 5:What countries did you visit?
• Taiwan

• 6:What would you like to have in 2014 that you lacked in 2013
• I'd like to have a social life. Just a bit though, I'm not sure if I can handle a jam packed social life. I need me time. I'd like to have money too hahahahhha and happiness yes how could I forget about that.

• 7:What dates from 2013 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
• There are just so many things. Great year. Thanks 2013

• 8:What was your biggest achievement of the year?
• Completed the IB program. End of story. 

• 9:What was your biggest failure?
• Not getting an A for Mando EE. Meaning that I, along with some people, broke the academy's mando EE record. Sincere apologies Mr Leong. I am actually thinking to visit smt and apologise in person. -sighs-

• 10:Did you suffer illness or injury?
• Uhh does the eye allergy count? That felt terrible, worse than getting the flu.

• 11:What was the best thing you bought?
• MY BABY LENOVO Y500 ♥♥♥♥♥♥

• 12:Whose behaviour merited celebration?
• Weirdly phrased question. 

• 13:Whose behaviour made you appalled?
• Makes a little  more sense than the last question.
• Sorry I don't recall for both questions.

• 14:Where did most of your money go?
• Food/taobao

• 15:What did you get really, really, really excited about?
• I got really really really excited about playing dragon nest because I couldn't play any mmo in Taiwan when I really needed to. I didn't even get really really really excited about finishing IB or graduating. I just felt "effing done" with IB and neutral about graduating. I COULD SEE MY FUTURE AFTER GRADUATING I SHT YOU NOT.

• 16:What song will always remind you of 2013?
• Epik High ft. Dumbfoundead & MYK - Maze

• 17:Compared to this time last year, are you: (a) happier or sadder? (b) thinner or fatter? (c) richer or poorer?
• Um let's pretend I'm still in 2013.
• I'm happier, fatter, richer.
• HAHAHHA I sound like a middle/old age man.

• 18:What do you wish you’d done more of?
• Studying. Figuring out the most effective study method for myself.
• I wish I danced more too. 

• 19:What do you wish you’d done less of?
• Procrastinating. I can't exactly put youtube as one of the things I wish I did less of because I don't regret spending time on youtube at all. I think I procrastinated way too much until 2-3 months leading up to my final exam. I really just couldnt get into it :/

• 20:How did you spend Christmas?
• Had work on the 24th so I came home exhausted. Had neighbours over for dinner but I slipped out earlier and played dragon nest in my room. On the 25th, I continued playing dragon nest and that's all I remember.

• 21:Did you fall in love in 2013?
• Well, shit yeah. 

• 22:What was your favourite TV program?
• Doctor who.
• -nervously thinks about the other tv programs that I adore-

• 23:Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
• No.

• 24:What was the best book you read?
• 50 shades of shut the beep up. Nah I like mother courage. hahahahahahaha jokes.

• 25:What was your greatest musical discovery?
• What does musical discovery mean? Though I did find chill/casual music being my best mate all year round. And I got rid of the kpop obsession I had since grade 8. 

• 26:What did you want and get?
• I wanted to get a new laptop and I did :)

• 27:What did you want and not get?
• To travel to america or europe for a vacation. I didn't actually mention it to anyone. It was a thought and desire.

• 28:What was your favourite film of this year?
• Pacific Rim

• 29:What one thing made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
• Finishing IB I guess. 

• 30:How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2013?
• -laughs- personal fashion concept? School uniform reppin

• 31:What kept you sane?
• music, to a certain extent.

• 32:Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
• Hyorin/hyolyn 
• She's so amazing I love her.

• 33:What political issue stirred you the most?
• EVERY FREAKING POLITICAL ISSUE.
• I'm so mad at politics in 2013. What the honest fuck is wrong with politicians in 2013. Taiwanese ones in specific. Oh wait they're already nuts since establishment. ha-ha-ha. As for Australian politics, I can feel it crumbling on the inside. Sweet looking, but rotten on the inside. 
• Excuse my language. 

• 34:Who did you miss?
• Mother 

• 35:Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2013.
• Emotions suck.

• 36:Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

"so we bounce back, every single time, speak the truth to crush any little lie" 

Frustration outlets no.1

My life is so dramatic right now.

Sadness
Disappointment
Hope
Guilt
Annoyance
Frustration
Not giving a single damn
stress

That's why I'm not blogging as much because life is taking over and I can't slow down and spend time to get some deep thoughts going through my head. To be honest I just want to sit in my room all day etc but no nope I've got other duties and what not. Is this my harsh reality? I'm struggling to handle everything and make everyone happy at the same time. Yet there are still opportunities arising that may benefit me in the future and I'm afraid that if I take this, I lose another. Oh and there's also time. Time, you moron. Time is my biggest fear and enemy right now.

I also made one of the biggest decision yet. I know I'm not mentally capable for something so wonderful as such at this point in time. It's a luxury. Either way, disappointments will arise and it did as expected. Made me feel shittier too. These piling emotions with different things in life just stack up one by one. Where are the days, the days where I just "study" and attempt to socialise with friends. Now I don't even think 24 hours a day, 7 days in a week is enough for me to comfortably fit everything in place whilst being moderately sane and not looking like just got punched in the face the night before.

I cannot even give a damn caring about my IB score right now. The number tells me whether or not I can get into the course I want and it sure did. I'm content, not happy. Content that I would make into the course, not happy because it was lower than I expected but I don't give a bum right now just get over it. Now my parents are making a big deal about how they're going to tell anyone who asks them. It's like.. "m8 it's none of their beezwax just say that maggie is content with her score". Why must they feel obligated and more stressed than me. Wait, no, that makes perfect sense. But why point fingers at me, there's no point. I can't go back in time and redo my exams. Even if I did, I'd still get into the course, but make everyone and myself happier. Definitely not worth the time travel and effort to be honest. Why is there a need to reinforce the shittiness, everyone has feelings and can be iron hearted. Just get over it. Move on.

I've been so caught up with life that I legit did not check youtube for 3 days straight and I most definitely missed out on a lot of videos :(
Ughhh can life just stop and wait for me.
I'm lagging here, almost not responding.
I just want solitude and peace :(

SORRY!! QQ

Hey all! 

Sorry for the lack of posts recently.

I've been super busy -cough- 

I've been playing Dragon Nest since I came back from Taiwan and I'm aiming to get my soul eater to 60 before the end of the year. So far it seems achievable, I've got 8 more levels to crank through and I'm done, SO DONE WITH LIFE.

Aside from that, I've been frantically trying to find a job... and I did. Hooray thanks to stepmum for watching out for me. Before I actually landed a job, I was so stressed, demotivated and it made me feel really useless and lazy. I got so many lectures and talks from grandma and dad and it made me feel like crap. I was honestly so depressed (and gaming harder) in that week.

Actually, I still feel the same now. They still want me to get more jobs as I could. Now I just sound like a lazy ass doing whatever my family tells me to. I should be self motivated... but dragon nest is my motivation right now I cant. This actually sucks..

Had my interview, manager told me that she'll call in the evening if I'm wanted. She didn't call that evening or night. My motivation, literally just dropped to a negative figure (and I gamed even harder). She called the next day and I was over the moon. So I tried out for 3 hours (2 hours originally but there were heaps of people), I think it went alright. I'm still wanted for next week :D 

Oh dear me I'm not going to publicly post it here but the people there really made my day/holiday. They're so honest and secretive that it makes work quite enjoyable. 

That's about it for now!

I'm still editing a post (it has photos) that was about last week's stuff but I obviously still prioritize dn over blogging. 

p.s. the reason I'm not playing now is because I had minimal sleep last night (from 5am to 9am after 10 hours straight of dn). Time to go back and watch some doctor who!

Taiwan 2013 Pt.4

HELLO AGAIN

I arrived back in Aus on Tuesday morning but couldn't be bothered to really finish this Taiwan 2013 post. Guess I'll get it done in one go this time :D

This is our cat. More like my grandparents' cat. The family cat. He doesn't give a damn about anything other than food and sleep. He's majestic. His midget tail speaks for itself. He's very deep. 

What's better than waking up and seeing maccas breakfast on your table. Mum gave me that mirror and told me that it should remind me how much micro pimples I have on my face. Thanks mum!

plot twist: I couldn't fit the mirror into my suitcase

Thought I should take some photos because we'll be moving out some time in january and no longer be able to see this view (but a better one).

Last meal on land in Taiwan! I forgot what it's called LOL This made me feel sick at the airport :\

The taxi picked us up at 9:30pm. I tagged along with mum when we checked in (she had paragon/emerald card). Without her, I don't think I would be able to get through AHAHAHA that's how heavy my suitcase was fml. She actually planned her flight to aus a week after mine but changed the date so we could fly back "together". Wasn't exactly "together" because she went to the lounge after we checked in and we only saw each other outside Brisbane Airport. 

                 

Hooray for massive christmas tree!

Mum wanted to take a photo of me with the tree but it looks so derp so I'm not going to upload it here in case someone decides to save and blackmail me in the future. I basically just stood there for about 2 minutes waiting for mum to get done with taking the photo. My face was frozen and awkward.

I had a massive grin/smile like I'm about to explode LOL and straight up, behind mum.... was this charming American guy smiling at me. I wasn't too sure if he found me retarded or something but it was so hard to look away like omfg. I'm assuming that he's American because the only flights around that time was to Brisbane, Vancouver, San Francisco and Los Angeles. PLEASE. LET ME BOARD THE WRONG FLIGHT.  

I am forever hoping that the occurrence was pretty much that ^. I don't know but we kept looking at each other even after mum finished taking the photo. I was legit so drawn into him it's hard to explain. He is, hands down, rebloggable material. I would reblog the shit out of him. I'm appreciating beauty here. gotta acknowledge beauty around the world every once in a while ya know.

Now I'm left with regret. I should of just walked up and said hi or something. Yep, and from that moment onward, I have been officially caught in wanderlust. Let me travel to places around the world pl0x.

Blurry photo op
Not the best food they served. I should of taken a photo of the meal on my way to Taiwan. IT WAS SOOOOO MUCH BETTER, I finished every edible food on the plate for the first time.

Guess who got three seats to herself? :D
The plane was almost full and I still managed to hit the jack pot and get a row to myself omg yes. I marked the aisle seat and hoped that no one would want the window seat and the seat in the middle. The seats were 3-4-3 this time because we were on 747 and it was much bigger than the normal aircraft they use. It was sooo comfortable, I could stretch out my entire leg but still in a sitting position #goodenough

I was pretty much the last one to get off the plane cause I don't like lining up but my luggage still came out first because I checked in with mum (who was in business class). Basically got out of the airport in 10minutes. Then I realised I had no credit on my phone #genius So I had to wait for stepmum to call. 

p.s. I also saw mum's bf in real life. He's Japanese and owns Menya Mappen at Sunnybank and Gyoza bar at the Valley. Yeah I was so surprised when I first heard about him :o 

THAT'S ABOUT IT (again)

will blog soon!

Taiwan 2013 pt.3

Wasssup!

Took more photos and I can't wait to share them AHHAHAHH and I don't want to forget about the details. I didn't end up going down south on the trip :|

On friday morning, mum had people come over to our house to fix the lights that had been flickering/flashing when it was turned off. They bought us lunch too :D I was skyping and on league so mum bought the food to me -praises mother- infinite appreciation. The thing is, she started waving at the camera and talking into the mic HAHAHHAH

"HELLOO!!"

"DO I LOOK YOUNGER THAN HER?"

"I'M HER SISTER"

"I'M YOUNGER THAN HER"

"HIIIII"

It was so funny omg but embarrassing at the same time. The vid cam wasn't even on. Oh gawd. Queue up and skype me ft my mother. Event ends Monday night. I joke.

Food was delicious of course. Just look at it! Grandma packed lunch for me on Saturday. Everything tastes yummm too omg The tin container brings back so much memories. Memories of the grade 1, 2 days. Bought guava from the convenient store.

Before that, I went to Watsons to stock up hygienic products for the year! Bought a year worth of toothbrush, toothpaste, moisturizer, some makeup and heaps of other things. Please master teach me how to do makeup.

I've never tried KATE products before. Pretty sure they're "new", seen them promo this product range on tv so much. I'll actually try them when I get back in AUS. Yes it's Japanese brand....Taiwanese love Japanese brands.

Spent $120AUS in total and I'd say it's so much cheaper than buying all of these in Australia! It's mostly because I happen to go there on the right day, the day that they're having a 1 day super sale and I saved $37.5AUS.

Alright, finally up to what I want to blog about. Let me introduce you to Albion Cosmetics, click [ here ] to visit official site. Our double neighbour introduced this product to us and told me that she'll grab some for me. She told me that this product works extremely well on acne and improves skin condition but I had no idea HOW EXPENSIVE THIS IS -faints-

Price:

• Skin conditioner 3200NT each (about 120AUS)
• Exage white 1980NT each (about 74AUS)
• Facial cotton -L  220NT each (about 8AUS)

Such price. Much premium.

She just "gifted" it to us. I repeat, "gifted". Oml. Two of each as well. Do the maths yourself and the final digits will blow you away. 

And of course, I tried it out and it was somewhat refreshing since I normally don't use any facial product other than moisturizer when it gets really dry from the pills. Please excuse my pink/red eyes lul and it wasn't even irritated. Can you imagine how red it goes now? hahahhaa

So first you apply the exage white using the facial cotton pad (shown on the left image), wait for a while for your skin to absorb the product.... then you want to almost "soke" the other facial cotton pad with the skin conditioner and leave it on your face. Weird aye. 

On a side note, is anyone else loving hyorin's new song "one way love"? Just look at the choreography! I'm learning this guise, someone join me? hahhhahaha

THAT'S IT FOR NOW. 2 DAYS LEFT IN TAIWAN!

Taiwan 2013 pt.2

Hellllllo :D

I'm currently feeling unapologetic and I will blog with whatever I have so don't complain with the lack of food photos. I'm suppose to be taking and uploading heaps of food photos but they look so dodgy and noral so I dig into the food straight away. 

Visited grandparents and chatted more. Grandpa showed and gifted me his new "book" that collates all his paintings. Wowow I'm actually wondering where my share of the gene went :( He's gifted with good painting/drawing skills, while uncle runs and teaches at his after school art classes. I don't even know what mum does tbh, but one of the many things she does is interior and jewelry designing, shop renovating etc. Side note: I only found out that she's also a qualified nurse wtf and she taught language for grade 10, 11 and 12 in Australia and Taiwan before. Mind blowwwn. 

Grandpa's name is also listed on the top artist in Taiwan. His paintings ranges from 200,000 to 500,000 I think (I only saw it for a second so I might be +/-  100K off). Convert that to Australian, it would be around 7.1k to 17.9k. He had a few art exhibitions in Japan and accepted 3 invitations scheduled next year. The amount of skill. pls.

Popped down to the convenient store and bought myself some snacks :DDD These range from 80c to 2 dollars AU each item HAHHAHHA *eats everything* skittles were on sale, buy one get one free :D I also bought some dinner. Ready food. Don't give me a lecture about health risk and how I'm going to die early and all that. I AM FULLY AWARE. Never had the chance to eat like this in Aus so I'm taking my chance to try out some delicious looking food.

Mum made her worker get 牛肉麵 for us and it was soo delicious.

We had ginger duck on one of the nights. 

Date with Julie 5th December 2013 in EASTERN DISTRICT OF TAIPEI 

First thing that comes in my mind when someone mentions the eastern district of taipei is... "people" and "good food". It's like the area where the cool kids hang out. There are so many shops, night clubs, cafes, restaurants, malls and so on. 

There's a song called "Dong qu" (Eastern district) LOL and I think that pretty much sums up what it is. Julie and I randomly break into this song on the street HAHAHAHA Everyone should at least visit this place if they're coming to Taiwan ;)

Julie and I met up at Taoyuan train station at 10:30am, bought my tickets and as we were getting onto the station. I put in my Taipei to Taoyuan ticket by accident and it didn't let me in. Hurddur, then the guy told me I might of put the wrong one in, so I fetched out my other ticket and finally the machine read it and let me through. HAHHA I'VE NEVER BEEN ON A TRAIN IN TAIWAN WITHOUT A "GO CARD". Tbh idk where my Taiwan go card went *sigh* Such embarrass, the place was quite crowded too. Then we took MRT to get to eastern district. 

We narrowed our choice down to "Tiffany Cafe", [here] for more photos. We couldn't find it at first, even though we were sure that we're on the right street. We kind of wondered around and the waitress walked out and asked us if she could help us. Turns out, they changed the cafe name to "Backpacker's cafe" or something. Gosh. 

I was starving by then. Didn't have breakfast in the morning but we saw the photos from the blog and the serve looked really big so we only ordered one. I swear I ate 2/3 of the food on the plate.

Char-grill sirloin Benedict! IT WAS DELICIOUS OMFG ASJDLFKAJSLDKGJASLKDFJA

To convert NT to AU, divide all the digits by 26.8. Which meant..

• Char-grill sirloin Benedict for $11.87 AU
• Caramel Macchiato for $2.24 AU
• Variety Fruit Roll for $5.60 AU
• Banana Passion fruit yoghurt smoothie for $4.85 AU

We were so fulled after this. So we decided to go to Wufenpu to walk around and shop a bit. We took the MRT again, to get there. We looked through most of the shops. Here's a shot of one of the "alley". Spent a good 2 hour quickly browsing through! 

I didn't buy as much because I didn't want to carry it all the way back home on public transport. Knowing me, I get uncomfortable in crowded public places, especially when people look at you because you don't look like you live there. I only wore a t shirt and jacket with short pants and short boots. Whereas everyone else pretty much wore 3+ layers of clothes with long pants. Pls It wasn't even that cold. I was sweating on MRT and train, body heat way too strong. 

Bought the bag for 600NT. Funny thing, it was priced 680NT and I told julie "six hundred" with a nod. I asked the shop keeper and asked for a lower price and she said, "600 as you said". WOWOOWOWOW sharp ears, good english. I actually think it's worth at most 500 but they need to live too! I also managed to save some money from 2 out of the 3 clothing items I bought. 

We left Wufenpu at 4pm and took the MRT back to Eastern District to visit "Stayreal cafe" owned by a famous singer Ashin in Taiwan. Took us even longer to find this cafe with julie's phone. Navigation was so difficult in Taiwan HAHAHA no joke :\ Throughout the day, we basically walked around with our phone map open. 

Anyway, this blog site has better photos, check it out [ here ]! We were still so fulled so we only ordered drinks. Julie ordered Blue citrus rum soda and I ordered Peach rum soda.

They also gave us cream to add in, turning it into spiders :D Honestly didn't like the spiders I made though. Tasting cream in liquid is as wrong as getting surprised by tofu in a hot soup. 

As for the people we saw in the Eastern District of Taipei.... People do have fashion sense (including guys). They've got some fine guys there and they mostly hang out in 2s or more. So it's like, walking on the street BAM a group of fine looking guys with fashion sense. Oh and the girls, looking flawless like omg stahp. Though I think they'd look better if they have a more dynamic style instead of the typical asian "trend". However, only 35% of the guy and girls are like that, still better than my region. 

More winter clothes shopping at Taimall!!

The lady couldn't believe that I was 17 :( She thought I was much older HAHAHHAHA Not sure what to feel. It's like, you want to look more mature but you don't want to age so fast at the same time. When you look at the senior high students, it's hard to believe that you're around the same age as them because most of them look like middle schoolers.  

3 more days left in Taiwan. Still not sure if I should go on a 2 day 1 night trip down south with mum's friend's family. My hayhever could ruin the fun, but I don't want to miss out on this potentially awesome trip :\

that's about it for now! hope my lengthy post will make up for the days I didn't blog :)

Taiwan 2013 Pt.1

Hello Everyone!

Congrats to everyone for finishing their year level! Hopefully by now we're all chilling at home, if not, working harder. I'm just going to throw in photos I've taken so far (in 5 days). ENJOY!

Mum introduced me this Japanese Eyedrop product called "Santen Fx V+".

Active ingredients: Vitamin B6, Taurine, Potassium L-aspartate, Neostigmine methylsulfate, Tetrahydrozoline hydrochloride, Chlorpheniramine maleate, e-Aminocaproic acid. 

It's a really popular product and mostly only sold in Japan, US and Europe. Last time, mum and her crew bought 100 of these back from Japan wowowowow. It was so popular that the stores only allow each person to buy 3 but they had 6 people so they only needed to visit 8-9 pharmacy shops to get it done. They didn't buy 100 for themselves, their friends wanted them to buy it for them and they happen to all want the same product. Coincidence, I think not. This works magic I tell ya *____*

Effective for treatment of:

• Eye strain
• conjunctival congestion
• itchy eyes
• prevention of eye diseases (after swimming and when dust or sweat enteres the eyes)
• inflammation of the eye due to ultraviolet light or other optical radiation (snow blindness etc)
• blurred vision (severe eye discharge)
• sore eyelids
• irritation caused by hard contact lenses. 

Let me tell you how it feels after one drop. FRESH AS FUUUUUUU. I went blind for about 3 seconds. I read the package and the fresh level was 5+ omg burns freshly. It feels like that I was never awake before this drop. Wish I had this earlier in the year so I can pull successful all nighters. No joke I had 0 all nighters this year (even though I said I would all night). This bugger will keep you awake for as long as you need to!

There are many other eye drop products made by this company but there's not much information on their website. They also recently just released a [ product ] that treats allergic conjunctivitis omg I NEED. My eye condition is terrible at the moment, it's red and sore most of the time. Yeah that kind of explains my facebook dp HAHAHAHAH Eyes feel better when it's closed or 1/4 open LOLOLOLOLOL


Moving on.
I went to my first ever clinical facial treatment yesterday!
IT WAS HORRIFYING but they did remove all the pimples stuck under the skin. They had to make a hole to get it out. That's how deep it was :( Even though the tablets controlled my pimples from exploding everywhere but it does't treat existing pimples or ones not removed properly. I have rather medium tolerance for pain. Needles don't hurt for me, dentists are alright but this facial treatment was HELL. It hurts so much omg I'm scared of that place now :\ but I took a few pictures of a cat sunbaking outside the clinic and that was satisfying.

I don't know if it was just her or that every clinical facial treatment are like this. She basically stabbed, pushed thin metal stuff into my face. She applied the ointment and various other unknown thing on my face with pressure equivalent of a baker working on his/her dough. I teared up so much during the session :( She also pressed really hard on all of the acupuncture points and more tears were shed. She covered my arms, shoulder, back and neck. I died. It was so painful.

maggie: OWWWHHHHH Q___Q

her: -continues pressing-

Not to mention, she also pulled and popped every finger joints. I glad that I do that normally anyway so it didnt hurt at all. I am officially scared to look at my own reflection. So many pimples that I thought never existed. Alright have a look guise.

I don't want to take a super close up photo :( But this should be enough for future comparison when my "wounds" clear up. I also noticed that my skin is smoother! The painful treatment was all worth it.

We went to mum's new apartment that's still under renovation. It's a pretty big apartment I must say. She designed it herself and I can't wait till the next time I come back and visit her (and this apartment). Although the one right now is pretty impressive, but this one is even better!

View from the balcony!

Reception/ main entrance/lobby!

I ran around like a little kid and took heaps of photos hahahaha don't mind me, just a bit excited here. Right now the apartment we live in is a notch or two below this one. 

Photo with the flowers :D

They're real too. 

This is all real life! *____*

dat shirt tho

floor so shiny

dust mia

Our neighbour shouted us some food at the apartment cafe!

Funny thing. They were already our neighbours at the current apartment complex and they decided to follow up and also buy an apartment over there. So technically we're double neighbours HAHAHAHA I don't understand this kind of friendship in the high life. 

That's about it for now!

Sorry for the lack of food photos :\ They will come soon.