Category: Blog

Contingent Contemplation: Re-watching Star Wars

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Ever feel like you were born too late?

Yes, I am talking about me not being able to feel all the hype that surrounded Star Wars way back then. Okay, maybe it was not too long ago, and there were more recent Star Wars films released, but what I am emphasizing on is the ones from the 1980s. I have watched these with my parents when I was younger, but re-watching them again this winter break made it clear to me: They are gold. Seriously, I am addicted and really sad that I cannot be there to get excited about its original release. Looking around, there is still lots of pieces of the Star Wars legacy that exist around me, but it is not the same. I really wish I could have been there.

So, moving on from what I cannot change, watching Star Wars again made me fall in love with Han Solo. With all movies, I usually fall in love with some actor or character and it happens that this time it is Han Solo. I thought I would like Luke more because he was one of the only characters I remembered from watching Star Wars all those years ago. However, Solo is just such a charming character (not to mention a badass) and I loved his relationship with Princess Leia. Again, too bad I cannot find many Han Solo fans around my age anywhere close by because I would definitely be rambling about him all day. Just like I do with a million other actors, such as Shia LaBeouf to name one. And of course, that is my segue into a slightly related topic. I also re-watched Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull just so I can see Harrison Ford. I have never paid much attention to him as my eyes are usually on Shia LaBeouf, but this time I kept my eyes glued on Harrison Ford. Amazingly (or not), I still see a lot of his Han Solo days in him and that delighted me lots. However, I still wish I could be a adoring fan girl who was obsessing over a 30 year old Harrison Ford. Being 18, I feel more appropriate obsessing over Han Solo instead of the current Harrison Ford.

I vaguely remember watching most of the Star Wars movies in my past but not enough to remember what it was really about, so it all seem a bit new to me. I did watch Star Wars in the way it is supposed to be seen (according to most people– and I definitely agree): IV, V, VI then I, II, III. Before starting my marathon, I honestly believed I would like the prequel a lot more because I was more used to modern films. However, after watching the fourth to the sixth ones, I was beginning to wonder if the prequel can live up to it. It did not in my opinion and I was slightly disappointed. Despite them being made with way less technology and had to make do with what they had back in the 1980s, George Lucas did a pretty good job at depicting an exciting galactic adventure in episodes IV-VI. At the same time, it was interesting to see the prequel, understand the circumstances for what followed and see how George Lucas directed films closer to my time. Now I want to read the books to get even more in depth…but, I am still not done reading Game of Thrones and my second term in university is about to start. Woes of a student.

While I was Boxing Day shopping today, I was on the lookout for Star Wars merchandise, namely Star Wars posters with Han Solo and Princess Leia. Of course, I failed miserably and only managed to find some posters with either the entire ensemble of all the Star Wars characters (which was pretty cool, but I did not feel like getting it) or ones that focused on Yoda (who is also really cool, but again, not what I was looking for). I also wanted this:

But the chances of me randomly finding that in a Vancouver shopping mall was definitely really low, so I gave up the search before it started. Okay, that is a lie because I went to custom t-shirt places just to check, but my suspicions came true. I also found moleskine Star Wars notebooks, but that was kind of boring. I guess if I wanted any good Star Wars merchandise, I would have to go online. Which I promptly did when I went home and found these:

Lightsaber chopsticks! I am asian so we eat with chopsticks everyday anyway! WANT WANT WANT!

Ugh I cannot believe I am getting into Star Wars now. I feel so behind…Oh well, at least I found something to do over my holiday. 🙂

-Karen

Tis the season: Part 3 (No! It’s ending! 3 things I’ll miss…)

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What I’ll miss most:

1) The all day Christmas radio station

I have been getting really sick of the regular songs I hear on the radio that are popular these days…so the Christmas radio station was a refreshing change! Plus, you just feel festive and happy listening to chiming bells and upbeat Christmas jingles! I definitely will be missing that.

2) Decorations everywhere

The streets I walk will once again be reverted back to plain trees without beautiful, multicoloured lights. The malls will take down their decorations of colourful garlands and baubles, as well as that huge Christmas tree every mall has. ='(

Random hanging Christmas decoration at Metrotown

3) having something to look forward to

I think Christmas is the next best thing after waiting for my birthday. Especially for presents! It is not so much as what is in the presents, but the act of opening them! That is why I usually wrap my sister’s gifts separately instead of stuffing them in one box and then wrapping the one box! She and I share the same view on opening presents.

On the other hand…did boxing day shopping today. That is definitely something I look forward to after Christmas, but it is in no way comparable to Christmas itself. But still, better than nothing! Totally wiped from walking so much and visiting so many packed and really warm stores!

-Karen

Tis the season to be jolly!: Part 2 (Legit Christmas dinner)

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So my friends decided that we needed to have a ‘legit’ Christmas dinner as we have not had one throughout the years. Yesterday was when it happened! To begin, my part in the preparations were really small, so many thanks to those who went a day early to prepare! And thank you Edna for letting us do it at your house! Everything was delicious and overall and it was really fun!

Neil carving the turkey 🙂

Legit dinner right there

The main part of the dinner consisted of all the regular Christmas food: Turkey, peas, corn, mashed potatoes…you know, traditional Christmas stuff. I do not think I have had such a ‘legit’ Christmas dinner for either a very long time, or never at all! Being asian, Christmas dinner always consisted of somehow incorporating rice or some other asian touch to the dinner! 😛 After dinner came dessert– and this is where I wished I saved more room in my stomach. There was three times as much desserts as there were for the main course! Butter tarts, pumpkin tarts, cupcakes, cookies, cheesecake, apple pie..the list goes on! But I was so full by the time dessert was out that I could only sample a bit of the overall selection!

Dessert!

After dinner we all headed out the the living room to watch Christmas movies and play some games. We had a gingerbread making contest! It was super fun and to make it more challenging, we had a 20 minute time limit. We were also only allowed to use one hand per person. Of course, these were pre-made gingerbread and we just had to assemble and decorate it. Connie and I reunited thebomb.com and David and William joined us. Although we did not win, it was still fun to build a gingerbread house (well, train really)! I haven’t built one in ages! I think the last time I did was almost six years ago!

You know I got serious when I tie up my hair and am not sitting down, being my usual lazy self.

Our gingerbread train!

After gingerbread house making, a majority of us decided to watch SAW. I could never stand gory films so I volunteered to leave the living room. 😛 Josh and I went to Edna’s room and we played our Game of Thrones card game. Eventually we heard our friends screaming and exclaiming as they watched people die on screen…and then some other friends started to trickle into the room as well. Yeah, talk about having a Christmasy atmosphere. Josh and I decided to block out the scary sounds and reactions and we turned up Christmas music on Josh’s MacBook. Safe and sound in Edna’s room ❤

It felt like the party ended too soon, but by the time we left, it was around 2:30 at night! I was not at all tired…until I got back home and the fatigue kicked in. It was awesome to get to see everyone again. After university started, it felt like all I was doing was no-lifing school! But, it finally felt like the old times when I could just go out whenever I wanted without having to worry about an upcoming midterm or project! In other words, it felt wonderful! Hope everyone else’s winter holiday is going swell as well! 🙂

Until my next post,

Karen

Tis the season to be jolly!: Part 1 (And I am! :))

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The 20th of December marked my last day of final exams! I am free!! And survived my first university finals/term one!

Right after my exams, I met up with Carmen! We went downtown to eat lunch at Hon’s…

Us and our noodles ❤

And then we walked around downtown. We wanted to watch Sherlock Holmes 2 so we continued shopping around until 4-ish. However, Carmen suddenly came up with a great idea: to hunt down a takoyaki food cart! Apparently the cart can be found at Howe and West Pender and we rushed there. At first we were slightly disappointed because it seemed like there was no cart…but then when we turned the corner, there it was!

This takoyaki food cart is the cutest thing ever! It was called Osa Tako Hero Takoyaki! The menu featured their food in a game-like theme. First you chose your ‘heroes’ a.k.a how many takoyaki you want. Then you can choose power-ups to upgrade your heroes’ abilities, a.k.a what sauce/toppings you want on your takoyaki! I was really hesitant to try the maple syrup one, but Carmen wanted to. In the end, the guy making the takoyakis allowed us to have a bit of each topping! 🙂 Surprisingly, the maple ones did not taste sweet!

Hero scroll! Choose how many heroes you want :3 And then their abilities on the side!

Carmen at the stall ^^

Our ten heroes with mixed abilities! Ahaha sorry for the blur!

Waiting for the takoyakis took pretty long and since our movie starts at 4:45, it seemed like we were going to be late. We had to walk bad to Scotiabank theatre and then buy our tickets! We were running towards Scotiabank, but then we saw a bus, so we jumped on. We go to the theatre with minutes to spare and bought our tickets. That’s when Carmen and I realized that it was Tuesday and the tickets were half price!!!! AHHH lucky us! ^.^ And we basically got into our seats just in time as well!

Sherlock Holmes 2 was very good in my opinion. Filled with wit and humour, Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law’s amazing screen chemistry will never cease to amaze me. Oh, and why must I fall in love with Robert every. single. time. I. see. him. in. a. movie?

So, thank you Carmen for the perfect after-exams day! And LOL to us falling asleep at random times of the day because we were both lacking sleep! I missed you Carmacorn and I am so glad we got to catch up!

Oh and here are my nails for Christmas! 

I wonder what else is in store this winter holiday…

-Karen

So close I can almost taste it! Gimmie the Gingerbread!

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I am all for early signs of Christmas. The stores are decorated, along with the malls, and then there’s the houses too. The cinemas are brining out new Christmas movies and schools choirs are learning their Christmas carols (this I know cause I hear my sister practicing random Christmas jingles around the house).

I know, a lot of people are like “IT’S NOT CHRISTMAS YET!”

But I really don’t mind. 🙂 I’ve always loved the fact that there are so many signs reminding you that Christmas is right around the corner! I think it is the one holiday I really look forward to, because everyone is in such good spirits.

I remember when I was young, my parents and I would walk around malls, and I always knew when Christmas was coming. The decorations are SO pretty! And then there’s also the random guy dressed up as Santa Clause in malls, and that’s fun too. And his elves sprinkled around the mall. Okay, yeah, people dressing up as Santa Clause and elves scare me a little…actually people dressed up as characters scare me. Except for the Disney Princesses at Disneyland!

Every year at Metrotown ❤

I really do not mind the early discounts from shops. I remember working at Stitches around Christmastime and happily helping old ladies choose presents for their granddaughters. It always amused me when they would look at me and proclaim I am shaped like their granddaughter, and promptly usher me to try on a certain jacket/sweater/shirt. It seemed like that they have been looking forward to shopping for their grandkids for the whole year! You should see all the time and effort they put into choosing the perfect gift!

Then there is also the people who rush in, grabbing last minute presents or just wanting to check ‘present buying’ off their list of things to do. And that is fine too. :3 I have often waited so long pondering what to get who I end up becoming one of those frantic gift shoppers.

But as a backtrack, after taking all these business courses, the festive mall environment has dimmed a bit for me. The early decorations are not put up because everyone is excited for Christmas, like myself. Boosting Christmas sales being the main objective here, the stores start their promoting extra early! Ahh, the loss of childhood innocence just keeps getting to me.

However, I want this to be a happy post, so back to the land of sugarplums and happiness! I am seeing loads of Christmas themed food! Here’s some Lindt chocolate that I bought after suffering from mild depression after my Economics Final. The white chocolate ones have tiny snowmen on them!!

Lindt Chocolate Balls :3

I still have yet to have a gingerbread cookie this year! I think out of everyone around me, I am the only one who actually likes gingerbread baked goods. All the more for me!

Then we got a package from our aunt in Hong Kong in the mail! She sent us a bunch of scarves that my sister, mom and I quickly claimed! Yay for overseas relatives!

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Bath and Body Works Candles!

So moving on to harmless weekend shopping? Firstly, this I have been meaning to do for quite a while, I bought Christmas candles from Bath & Body Works! I haveBath and Body Works Candles!wanted to buy their Evergreen candle for a long time, but I did not think I would be able to finish using their 3-wick candles. So I was at Richmond Center the other day when I saw that their smaller candles were buy one get on free!! Christmas savings 🙂

I grabbed a Cranberry Woods for the second one because the tangy, fresh smell of cranberries wakes me up.I also bought earmuffs. Okay, I guess I do not really need earmuffs, but I do live in Vancouver and it gets cold out. Very cold, for those of you who do not know.

And of course, my first picture beside a Christmas tree this year!

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At Richmond Center Mall!

I have my mom’s gift ready and just need to wrap it. I am not going to mention what it is here in case she reads this… I still have no idea what to get my Dad—a dilemma that occurs every year. My sister is also a tough one this because her birthday is always before Christmas, so I have already racked my brains for her and got her things I know she would have wanted… AND! I also have my secret Santa gift to consider, and since I drew a guy, it is going to make everything just that much harder. I never know what to get guys, whether it is for their birthday or Christmas. This paragraph shouts Corporate Santa everywhere. *cough*

But for now, as I go back to studying for my finals exams, let the 24 hour Christmas radio stations accompany me in my task…

 It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!… 

-Karen