slapdash
may 21, 2002
another miscellaneous entry on just some very random things [translated: no deep perplexing issues to bore you with today]:
yay, my aiyahgoods came in the mail over the weekend! i've been wanting to make my own little store for a long time now but i could never decide on a particular design to represent aiyah.net on mugs and such. it wasn't until this latest layout that i felt like i wanted to do something with the images. i initially had the goods saying aiyah.net (as shown above) but now the new images are labeled with the word "aiyah" only. i guess it's a bit more discreet that way. but then again, some folks have told me they like "aiyah.net" better. any suggestions? all in all, the mugs and the coaster came out ok and the coloring wasn't too far off the original. so i'm a bit relieved. many thanks to those who purchased the goods though. :) with all the money i made off you guys, i can afford to buy one single roly poly chewy boba speared on a toothpick or something.
following our monday tradition, fishpimp and i met up for lunch and went about on our errands. on her list today was to buy those "eye tape" for her sister, who wanted (get this) 40 packs with 10 pairs of eye tape in each pack. holy shit! that equals 400 pairs of eye tape to use. but i guess when you want to achieve that "look" with your eyes, it's not too compulsive (yeah right!). i personally don't want to deal with that eye tape stuff anymore because it's such a pain and my eyelids get all warped like a melted vinyl record because you end up pulling on that delicate and thin skin so much. and besides, natural beauty, i keep telling myself is what's important. "natural beauty, natural beauty, natural beauty" is my mantra. i'm sure i'll believe it one day.
so we went to this one particular Korean beauty supply store in rowland heights where the salesgirls are pretty darn amazing looking. and i must admit, some of these korean gals are very very good at makeup. as you know, once i'm in some make up place, i go bananas and 10 oxens can't drag me away from the counter. but i restrained myself and only picked up two things: the VOV Candy Lipgloss Compact which comes with a mini lip brush for $10 and the Sinful nailpolish in a nice summery pale green that would look so nice with strappy sandals. can't wait to use them both, especially on tanned skin. who says everyone wants to whiten their skin? p'shah!
as we were leaving, the owner (?) handed us some samples of "korean makeup" she said. i'm sure it's skincare but since i can't read any korean, perhaps some of you can help me out and tell me what it is. click here for a larger photo and to view the legible label on the bottle. your korean translation is much appreciated. there are actually a few more korean beauty supply/makeup places i want to take fishpimp to but i should leave my wallet at home on those occasions. but from what i've seen at those stores before, i could spend a whole afternoon there.
i met up with my mom today at a restaurant in monterey park and then took her to one of those chinese bookstores that we always frequent. while my mom was looking at cookbooks and hk tabloid mags, i always get drawn to the japanese drama vcds and korean movie vcds section. i feel like a kid in a candy store when i'm looking at these goods because it means i won't have to buy them from places online who charge me an arm and a leg. and not only that, i won't have to worry about them messing up my shipment, like they always do. AND i can bargain with them if i'm paying cold hard cash. oh yeahhhhh! the one huge drawback to these chinese version vcds is that there are no english subtitles. so you either have to 1. understand the original language spoken on these shows (japanese/korean) and/or 2. know how to read chinese subtitles.
as i was standing there persuing the selection today, the guy behind the counter comes up behind me and tells me that this drama is good, he says, pointing to "beautiful life." i've seen that i told him and personally between you and me, it was "alright" but i didn't want to be mean to him and shoot him down since he was nice enough to give me customer service -- which is something you don't get much of at these chinese places nowadays. and then i asked him if the korean movies are subtitled in english. sadly, no. and what a disappointment it was because there were a few movies i really wanted to get but since my korean is only limited to foods and bad words, it just wouldn't work. of course he assures me that they have chinese subtitles and i just nodded since he really didn't need to know that i don't read chinese that well.
and then he said, "have you seen friends?". i've seen the movie "friend" (about korean gangsters) and only caught one episode of the "friends" korean/japanese drama on tv before. "are you talking about the one with the japanese girl and korean guy in hong kong?" with that, he went out to his minivan and got me a copy of it. i guess he saves all the good stuff in his secret vault, the minivan, for nice people like me who really KNOW our dramas. after brief introductions and knocking the price down $4, my mom paid for my drama because i didn't have time to go to the atm this morning. it's always good to make connections at places like this because you never know what goodies you'll come across just by being nice and introducing yourself.
friends is a new drama that came out earlier this year starring japanese actress kyoko fukada and korean heartthrob, won bin. as if that wasn't enough of a culture mix, the story is set in hong kong. so you get to see them all speak japanese, korean, chinese and english. this is the first time that both korea and japan have come together to produce a drama, to possibly pre-establish a positive working relationship prior to the joint 2002 world cup korea/japan later this year. should be a most interesting love story indeed for a sappy girl like me who won't admit she's sappy. here's the storyline if you're interested.
