2016 bucket list

this post pretty much sums up my thoughts about 2016 so far. just a trial month. 2016 actually really begins next week.

seeing as how i'm now 18 and an ADULT and can do things like vote and drink legally and get a credit card and have a job, i've made a vow to myself to make 2016 a year as full as it can possibly be. i will do everything (or most of the things) i've wanted to do since i was a young teenager.

and so, a bucket list for the new year, to be completed before this year ends:

i. get a septum piercing

i became somewhat obsessed with septum piercings this past summer. i love because it just looks really fucking cool. it's awesome how you can wear these rings with such intricate designs for special occasions whilst other people are just wearing fancy necklaces or dangly earrings. you instantly stand out. it's great.

ii. get a tattoo

i think tattoos are beautiful. it's the most personal form of self-expression (it's on your body – that's as personal as you can get), and it's also an amazing way to decorate yourself. the permanence of it is what i love most – the fact that despite whatever you go through in life, it will always stay on a your arm, or leg, or back, or chest. i have a penchant for saving photos of tattoos i like, just for future reference, and i've realised that most of the tattoos i've saved are really simple ones. i've been following stanislava's tumblr for quite some time now, and her 'home-made tattoos' are pure beauty.

iii. read at least 10 books

i have so many books sitting on my bookshelf that have not been opened even once. i want to read them, but IB + my laziness has meant that i haven't done much reading the past year. so this year, i'm trying to change that. i'm going to read those novels on my shelf.

iv. travel the world during the summer

i want to travel after i graduate from high school. i want to revisit seoul and tokyo and sydney and paris, and fly to toronto, then boston, then argentina, then hawaii. also india! india seems a wonderful place.

over and out,

moodboard + other obsessions / ii

i like pink. there's something about the colour that just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. it is summer nights and cotton candy sunsets and anxiety-free days. it is the feeling of being drunk on happiness and the sound of laughter. i think these are things everybody needs to enjoy, and for me, the colour pink represents all of these. which is why it irks me to the max when people scoff and say that pink is just for girls – apparently in our society today, colours have gender. but that's a whole other issue. i'll leave it alone for now.

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below is a compilation of some things i've been obsessed with this past january:

films –

brooklyn

i watched brooklyn only a few days ago and the thing i liked most about the film was the soundtrack. i don't even know why, but in the end, when the credits began to roll, the orchestra that was playing sounded so beautiful and it worked so well with the cinematography of the film that i was just hit in the feels. it wrapped up the whole thing so perfectly.

also, domhnall glesson looked hella fine in the movie. 

nightcrawler

this film isn't new (it came out in 2014), but that doesn't stop me from including it in this list of current obsessions. nightcrawler is pure genius – jake gyllenhaal pulls off a brilliant performance (which i think has been completely overlooked) and the cinematography works in tandem with jake's transformation to give off this Really Creepy Vibe. it's intense. really intense. but that's why i love it.

music –

winner released a single on january 11 and i love it to bits. the fact that it's written by mino and that mino actually god damn sings in this song makes it 1025 times better. 

people –

amandla stenberg in teen vogue. need i say more?

and a quote by her that really resonates with me:

"here i am being myself and it's definitely hard and vulnerable and it's definitely a process, but i'm learning and i'm growing."

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that's all for this post.

over and out,

서 seoul 울

it is friday evening and i am sitting in my living room sipping chocolate milk. i haven't updated this blog in two months, and i suddenly felt the urge to post something, yet my life these past few weeks haven't been very eventful (save for my birthday, but i have yet to develop the rolls of film from that day). so here i am, revisiting my trip to seoul from april of 2k15 in a series of photographs, despite the fact that i still have a shit ton of work to do for school.

buk 북 chon 촌

i loved bukchon; the little shops lining the alleys were just plain adorable, and the traditional buildings were seriously the bomb.com. the colour scheme was beautiful, too.

i came across a hotel in one of these little old-style buildings. it was a sort of inn / motel. those places where bathrooms are shared and rooms consisted of multiple beds for multiple people. it looked so cool; the next time i visit seoul, i'm definitely staying in one of these buildings for the ~full experience~

isn't this store the cutest thing ever??

hong 홍 dae 대

ah, the hip part of seoul (yes, i did say hip. yes, i am 18, not 48). we lived near hongdae during our trip, and this is by far my most favourite region in the city. the vibrancy of the night scene is unlike anything i've ever seen. walk down the street beside hongik station and it's like experiencing ten concerts in ten minutes: there's a rapping duo, but right beside them, an acoustic guitar player. and slightly behind them, five breakdancing guys + a guy shaking what his mama gave him to some girls generation songs. i love the darn place. it's magnificent. and the people in this area wear some really pretty clothes, so that's quite nice.

so pretty but also so expensive (i did cry internally when i found out the price of that skirt)

the architecture at ewha womans university (which is near the hongdae area) is simply unreal. imagine going to school every day in a campus that looked like it came out of a fairytale. i don't think i would dread school days as much as i do now.

this was dinner at 팔색삼겹살 (palsaek samgyupsal – it means 8 flavours of pork). as the name suggests, there truly were 8 flavours of pork. 8 heavenly flavours. heavenly. my favourite was the wine-flavoured, purely because of the fact that it was the weirdest thing i've ever tasted.

in 인 sa 사 dong 동

this 'neighbourhood' follows hongdae very closely on my list of favourite places in seoul. i'm basically a sucker for tiny restaurants and little alleyways, and insadong has a lot of these.

i was taking a picture of the stall beside her when i noticed her photographing me with her phone.

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wow, this turned into a huge post that took up 3 hours of my evening. i've finished the chocolate milk now (because i know you're really curious about that).

over and out,