30 Days of December: 5

Well a happy belated MERRY CHRISTMAS to those who celebrate it!!!!! I was supposed to post this yesterday but obviously due to the holiday I was busy hehe. On to the meme!

Days 1-5 | Days 6-10 | Days 11-15 | Days 15-20



Day 21: A recipe

This is a rice crispy equivalent, except you use Corn Flakes instead of Rice Crispies and it's mostly made around Christmas because you make it into a wreath shape. (Usually there is one big wreath made instead of individual little ones). I want to share this with everyone because it is sooooo good, and such a big part of my early childhood Christmas memories. Whenever I think of Christmas as a little girl, this treat always comes to mind and for a while my aunt stopped making it, so yesterday on Christmas when she showed up with two plates of it, me and my cousins and sister freaked out over it because we hadn't had it in so long. :) It's just so tasty!



Day 22: A website
My Tumblr! I was really defiant against getting a tumblr, I don't really know why, but I got one now and I really like it! It's a lot like Livejournal but LJ is still waaaaaaaaay better because you can filter things so that your friends "feed" isn't all cluttered and there's profiles and user pics and communities and yeah I was supposed to be promoting tumblr lol.



Day 23: A Youtube video

I love this performance of theirs! And my favorite Sooyoung looks GORGEOUS as hell here! ^_^



Day 24: Whatever tickles your fancy

I chose this performance out of all their other Christmas performances because I thought it was cute! Plus the "Jingle Bell Rock" at the end is awesome because of SHINee and f(x)! First of all Amber from f(x) was still around and not M.I.A! And although I kind of hate the fact that they treat her like a boy (I mean I know she prefers to dress/look masculine, and I"m all for that, I LOVE Amber, but when they actually TREAT her like a boy by dressing her in a MALE hanbok that's just crossing the line for me, because no matter how masculine she chooses to dress, she still is a GIRL and when it comes to traditional hanbok, they should've dressed her in a female hanbok! After all she's in a girl group!) I thought it was really cute that she sang the part with Jonghyun and Onew hehe. :) Plus Luna+Taeyeon sing together - the best voices of kpop (though honestly I think Luna's voice is better), and then there's the Jung sisters who sing together too! ^_^ Overall, just a really cute performance. :)



Day 25: Your day, in great detail
I actually won't go into great detail because I'm trying to work on not rambling too much. This Christmas was so awesome. I helped my mom all day with decorating the house and wrapping billions of presents because this was the first time in forever that we were having a family party at my house (because my mom was finally back to host it). It was fun, I got to see family members I hadn't seen in forever, and I wore this blue dress that I promised my little brother I'd wear lol, but the real reason why this Christmas was so awesome was because of my Christmas presents.

I know, I know, it sounds so materialistic, but the thing that I love was the fact that my mom got me almost EVERYTHING from my Ultimate Christmas Wish List!!! I titled that my "Ultimate" Christmas "Wish" List because I honestly never thought I'd get any of those things, (I even said that in the original post), and I would've been fine with not getting those things because I didn't expect them AT ALL, but seriously my mom got me like almost the entire list!

Cowboy boots? Check. Red boots? Check. Uggs? (Or the ~fake equivalents) Check. Subscription to Entertainment Weekly? Check! SNSD Hoot poster? CHECK! CN Blue poster? CHECK! EDIT: Gladiator sandals? Check. SNSD Calendar? CHECK! Plus many other things, I was just really blown away by the fact that my mom actually read the list, and got me the things I wanted! I never expected her to actually get my kpop posters or a subscription, etc.

Earlier in the week my mom suggested I blog about something (that I've been meaning to blog about anyway) and I felt a little weirded out by the fact that she read my blog. I mean, I do link to it on Facebook every time I update, but I never thought she would take the time to actually read it, especially since she was in Iraq this whole time. Now I see that she really does read my blog, thoroughly too, and it really paid off and now I'm not "weirded out" by it but really thankful. It was just such a rewarding Christmas and the fact that my mom is back just made it so much better. Family parties just weren't the same without her.

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Okay so there's only one more post about this meme before I start blogging back to normal and stuff! ^^ This was the Christmas edition post, so the next one will be the New Year's edition post! :)
Day 1 - Your Favorite Song
Day 2 - Your Favorite Movie
Day 3 - Your Favorite Television Program
Day 4 - Your Favorite Book
Day 5 - Your favorite quote
Day 6 - Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 7 - A photo that makes you happy
Day 8 - A photo that makes you angry/sad
Day 9 - A photo you took
Day 10 - A photo of you taken over ten years ago
Day 11 - A photo of you taken recently
Day 12 - Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 13 - A fictional book
Day 14 - A non-fictional book
Day 15 - A fanfic
Day 16 - A song that makes you cry (or nearly)
Day 17 - An art piece (painting, drawing, sculpture, etc.)
Day 18 - Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 19 - A talent of yours
Day 20 - A hobby of yours
Day 21 - A recipe
Day 22 - A website
Day 23 - A Youtube Video
Day 24 - Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 25 - Your day, in great detail
Day 26 - Your week, in great detail
Day 27 - This month, in great detail
Day 28 - This year in great detail
Day 29 - Hopes, dreams, and plans for the next 365 days
Day 30 - Whatever tickles your fancy

My Proudest Accomplishment

This is something that I've wanted to write about for a while because it was a big deal for me. First I must preface this with an in-class assignment we had in my journalism class. We were to interview each other and write a 250 word article on something interesting that we found out through the interview. Later our professor posted them online and showed a few on the screen in class so we can read. A few people had complaints that their stories were inaccurate or they were misunderstood, and then mine (the story ABOUT me, not the one I wrote) was displayed in class. My professor asked me if I had any complaints/if she got anything wrong but I said, "Nope, she pretty much got me perfectly, to a T." So I want to share the story with you all, it's short.

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"Setting Trends in Texas"
By Kelly Japsi

Abigail Hernandez or “Abby” an aspiring magazine owner is not the typical St. John’s freshman, for one she is 20 years old, not the standard age for a freshman coming into college. Like many she is a resident student, but her story getting here is quite interesting. Abigail comes from El Paso, Texas, which is mostly populated by Mexican residents, including Abigail and her family. People in her town hardly ever leave, but Abigail knew early that she would not be one of those people; her thirst for diversity and future career brought her to bustling, face paced city of New York.

Her family having been in Texas all their lives were very reluctant to have their oldest child leave home. For the two years Abigail was not attending college she worked to help support her family, which added to the objection of her going to school so far away from home. She expressed that her friends understand her reasons for leaving, while her family were uneasy until they visited the St. John’s campus. Her family appreciated the fact that St. John’s was a good quality Catholic school, a large part of their life in Texas.

The real reason Abigail decided to attend college in New York? She believes her passion for Asian pop culture; especially music would be more accepted and appreciative in a city like New York rather than Texas. She even remembers the song that got her captivated by the genre, “Gee” by Girls Generation. She recounted advice she received from someone in Texas who told her that getting an education in New York would give her an edge on the magazine industry in Texas, although she does not plan on going back.

Along with being a role model for her three younger siblings, this Texas native is already making a statement at St. John’s by writing in the entertainment section of the Torch. We should be very interested in seeing where this aspiring magazine owner can take the Asian pop culture scene in New York.

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So before this assignment I had always wanted to write Kpop related articles for my school paper, but was always too afraid to suggest it to my editor, but after being interviewed by Kelly, she inspired me to go for it, so I did! I don't know why I was so worried, my editor was all for it! I had just suggested an album review on SNSD's new mini-album Hoot that came out on October 24, but she thought the idea was so cool that she said I could do a 900-word artist review on them. A 900 word article as a contributing writer that's a big deal...on my FAVORITE kpop band ever that I am freakishly obsessed over?!?! NO PROBLEM!!!! I was so excited and eager.

So the newspaper came out a few weeks ago and I was so excited, I got an ENTIRE half page (vertically lol) AND they used my absolute FAVORITE picture of SNSD ever!! Here's a screencap of the PDF version of it. - It's my favorite picture because Hyoyeon is front and center for once and she looks gorgeous! :)

Anyway, the reason I'm writing about this - so I was proud of my story, my friends were happy for me, we taped it on my wall along with my other stories, whatever, I was content and that was that. BUT THEN, I found my article on the paper's online website...and OMFG I could cry of happiness. 10 people "liked" my story on Facebook and it was tweeted once. AND they used my second favorite picture of SNSD (here's a screencap)!!! - It's my second favorite picture of them because when I was first captivated by "Gee" and decided to Google "SNSD", that was the first picture I ever saw of them and I instantly fell in love.

So, being sooo proud that 10 people had "liked" my story, I posted it on Facebook and tweeted it. Which caused my friends to like it as well; then my friend Kellie and my mom reposted it on Facebook...and now it has 50 "likes", 50!! I don't think I have that many friends who care enough to click on a link, let alone a link about kpop lol, but I guess I do. But it doesn't matter that it has 50 "likes" all from my friends, the thing I'm most proud of is that before I posted it on my Facebook and my friends liked it - there were 10 random people I DON'T know who genuinely liked it enough to "like" it! ♥ I feel so proud and accomplished, and I feel EXTRA happy that it happens to be on an article about SNSD! ♥

AND one person even went as far as to COMMENT on the story! (Lookie here!) That was just even more touching to me. ♥

After I found out that my story was liked and commented on, I went snooping for my other stories, and they had no "likes" or comments. So then I went through other stories online of other writers and none of them were liked or commented on either, just mine! And the other stories were written of waaaay more popular subjects that people would want to read about (Four Lokos being banned in New York soon?!) That is just crazy to me (that people liked my story on SNSD, not about the Four Lokos being banned lol).

So yeah, I just wanted to share my proudest moment and accomplishment so far in college, and in my journalism career. :) HERE is the article in its entirety if you want to give it a read. :)