25

i just celebrated my 25th birthday yesterday, the 19th of april. it was also freebird's 1-year old birthday. whoopee!

i started freebird a year ago when i turned 24, just to blog about my boring life which is really quite drama-filled sometimes. it was an avenue for me to put my thoughts into words, to share what i had to offer, and to update my friends and family from back home about myself.

i think i have quite a different take on life, as compared to other people. i get emotional about things, but i try not to take it too seriously. i bitch about stuff, but then by making a joke out of it, it lightens up the entire situation and sometimes, i manage to make myself laugh. heh heh. so i think freebird has actually been pretty good to me.

there are a lot of things i want to achieve with this blog, but unfortunately i haven't been able to blog as much as i would like to, ever since i came to new york. i guess life takes its own course and sometimes you just can't pre-determine stuff. but i'm finally getting better with managing my time, and yeah, i definitely have bigger plans in the future! (although i have to come up with the money for it. hmmmmm...)

so anyhow, it has been such a busy busy week. so much happened and there was no way i could really plan a real party, but i did want to have some dinner with friends. i was dead tired on friday the 18th. after all, i hardly got any sleep that entire week. i came back home and really just crashed into bed at about 5pm, and slept all the way till about 11pm or so. i woke up to shower and watch some tv, but crawled back into my glorious bed.

i mean seriously, when you're that tired, who cares if it's your birthday. all i could think of was my mattress, pillow and snuggalicious comforter.

however some friends decided that birthdays are not meant for sleeping, and called me on my phone till i picked up (even though i tried to put it on silent and ignore them for a while. hahaha!). i went over to their house for a few drinks at about 4am in the morning, before coming back home to sleep even more!

just in case you're thinking, "oh my god that pig slept through her whole birthday!", well, yeah and i loved it. sleep was the best present!

well, actually i crash into bed for hours every friday.

but anyway, some of my classmates and my roommate came to have a cheap dinner with me. i had invited some of them out for greasy fried japanese food and when i wanted to pay for dinner (i mean, there were just 6 of us and the bill was waaaay cheaper than i thought it would be!), they were like, "honey you're so asian! this is america, you don't pay on your birthday."

ahahahahahha it was so darn funny.

the cheap joint that we went to had a cotton-candy machine outside, and when we paid up, they gave us little cups with sugar in it to make our own. it was hilarious. two of my friends were making it for the 6 of us, but my guy friend turned out to be such a super pro at it, they all turned out perfectly shaped! we decided it was a career opportunity he should think about.

right after cotton-candy, i found out that they were so sweet! they had actually bought a little cake for me, so we decided it was best if they just came over to my apartment. we also pretended to be cool adults and drank some champagne. (hey! i AM 25 ok!) and from like 10 pm to 3 am when they left, we spent the hours bitching about parsons and other random stuff.

ooh it was so fun. it's amazing how much there was to bitch about. hee hee!

we've been so busy at school, this was the first time this semester we ever really hung out (besides all those group projects and stuff). this section has been really fun and i'm a little sad that we're all splitting up into different classes soon, but hopefully we get to hang out again during summer, when school isn't making us into zombies with bad tempers.

so! it wasn't a big birthday bash, but i don't like those, so i'm happy. it's nice just to get together with friends and sit down and talk. some of my other friends who were supposed to come, couldn't make it in the end. i got messages later saying they were so so so so so so sorry but they slept through the day. hahahahah i don't blame them; i can totally understand.

i wanted to sleep through my own birthday too!

so happy 25th to me, and happy anniversary to my little baby blog. i've made some friends through freebird, who i hope i manage to keep, and i want to thank those of you who constantly check back to see if i've made new posts!! i'm sorry if i've disappointed you on more than one occasion, but i promise i'll be posting more!

i want to leave you with this photo, which proves that even trash can be inspiring.

"become your dream, y'all!" (in a trashy, southern, britney spears sorta accent!)

don't mess with me

so i was supposed to register for next semester's classes on friday at 8 am. i've been having such a busy week, i've hardly slept at all. well, to be brutally honest, most of it was just due to my utter lack of time management. i was supposed to do things over the weekend that i didn't, and everything just got pushed back, such that i was really just doing homework the nights before they were due. and of course, according to our favorite murphy and his (or is it her) law, everything that could mess up messed up, and i spent hours working on something that should have taken me less than half that time. in other words, i hardly slept all week and was a walking zombie. and i sure looked and felt shitty too. in the words of my darling friend anthony, i was a "train wreck".

on thursday night i spent a couple of hours pouring over the online registration page, deciding on my classes, and writing everything down. "all set!" i thought, and looked at the time. it was like, 3 am, and i was about to faint from physical exhaustion. i contemplated going to sleep because my bed and blankets were looking rather delicious, but i knew that if i had gone to bed, i would NOT wake up at 8 o'clock to register and get into the classes i wanted.

so i did what every crazy idiot would do (don't try this, kids): i stayed up all night. la-di-da-di-da. doing nothing. so what, right? well like i said, i hadn't slept in days. well yeah i wanted to get some work done, but seriously, my brain was not having it. it was shutting down, just like my eyes were, so i just sat around and watched x japan's yoshiki videos on youtube. (yoshiki is so damn cute i can't take it. sorry takuya, but i'm having a huge affair with yoshiki now. ooh! but don't worry you're still my one and only true love.) i had never heard him speak english before, and it was only after this youtube-ing episode that i watched videos of interviews that he had given in english. (here's one that i thought was hilarious. and here's another one when an employee pissed him off.) he's much better than i thought!! well he should obviously be fluent enough after living in los angeles for 10 years eh? he still speaks very much in japanese-english though. it's hard to explain but they have their own accent. and excuse me, why didn't anyone tell me he had a myspace page??? and he actually writes a blog too, for his own myspace as well as violet uk's. oh my god the way he writes is so cute. the best thing? he personally views each comment before they are published. (which also explains why the comments on recent entries are "0", because it's taking him months to go through hundreds of comments for each post.)

i gushed to my friend about yoshiki the other day, and she's no fan of all these japan bands that i love. (and to all you haters, i'm really not a teenybopper but when it comes to smap and x japan, i'll become a groupie if i could. pffffffffffft!!! *major wahahas*) she took one look at this video of yoshiki that i showed her, and she was like, "wait. isn't he really similar to that other guy you like?"

and i'm like, "his name is takuya and whaddya meeeean? what are you talking about? are they?"

"honey, they speak the same way they act the same way they smile and laugh the same way and they look like twins when they have sunglasses on. maybe you just like their noses and cheekbones. and maybe you just like it that they are so passionate about something."


wow. i felt like i had been to some quickie drive-thru guru or holy psychic mind-reader, who pointed out in simple words exactly what i like in guys!! i wanted to pay her 10 dollars. but of course, friends shouldn't pay friends. services like that within friends are for free!!! hahaha.


erm, strayed too far from my topic.

well i youtube-d yoshiki all night, and spent a few hours smiling like an idiot at my computer screen. at about 7:45 my roommate's alarm started going off (she's from parsons and had to register too), so i took a final look at all the classes i wanted to get.

at 7:59 i tried logging into the registration page. "you are not permitted to register at this time." said the system. "ok fine, so i was a minute early," i thought. i tried again at 8:00. at 8:01, at 8:02, and about 47 times at 8:03.

WHAT THE HELL WHAT'S UP WITH THIS PAGE!!!!

i walk over to my roommate's room and ask her if she's managed to log in. "yeah i'm in but like all the classes i want are already filled up."

"WHAT!!! i can't even log in!! ughhhhhhhhhhhhhh."

i went and dug through my mountain of random papers, and found the number to call up the registrar's office. when i called them, and complained that i can't log into the system and theybettergetmeinthereasapbecause *gasp* idon'twannagetintosomelousyclasswithlousyteachers, guess what the woman told me?

"the system says you're not permitted to register at this time."

HELLO WOMAN, I TOLD YOU THAT!

she wanted me to call up my fashion advisors and have them call her again to fix the problem, because they had to be the ones to give her the go-ahead and let me register. "why can't you call them directly and speak with them on the phone?!!??!"

i was nearly yelling.

"i can't do that ma'am."

"HUH?!?!?!? why not?!?!?! that's just pointless and makes absolutely NO sense. i'm losing out on precious minutes here."

"so you should put the phone down and call them as soon as possible ma'am."

i realized obviously that i was talking to a friggin' bafoon (is there such a word?? it's a mix between a baboon and a fool. i like this word. i just came up with it while typing. because she really was a fucking bafoon.) so i went "WHATEVER!!" and hung up on her, and tried calling my advisors in the fashion campus.

the head advisor didn't pick up the phone. but i got over that quickly since she never helps anyone anyway. i didn't know the extension for my other advisor but managed to get to her through the voice activated machines. i told her my problem and she said that she will have to call the registrar's office, let them fix me up, then they'll call her back, and she'll email me the moment she gets the phone call.

"b, b, b, bu, but how long's that going to take!?!?" i was boiling so much i started to stutter.

"i don't have control over the system so that's the route we'll have to go."

"ok but please hurry because my roommate's telling me that the classes are filling up really fast."

"don't worry because there are enough classes for everyone."

"that's not the point. the whole reason everyone's rushing in to register at 8 am is because there ARE preferred classes, and i'm not getting anything i want even though i tried to register on time, and it's not even my fault! someone on the school's side messed my system up and i don't see why i need to pay for it."

"....well let me just call them and we'll try to hurry this process."

i know she is actually a really nice advisor. but seriously, this is NOT the first time that the parsons administration people have fucked up big time. i mean, they fucked up before i even entered the school. i am learning a lot in that school and (most) of my teachers are really imparting a lot of knowledge and skills to me which i totally appreciate. (although the key word is, "most".) but for god's sakes, someone needs to take all these admin people by the toes and hang them upside down so that blood will hopefully rush to their brains and start up those rusty machines in there.

it's terrible and i know i'm not the only one bitching about them, although i bitch quite a lot at any chance i have. UGH!!!!!

i couldn't take it because my head was pounding, so i went to lie down and set alarms on my iphone like, seriously, every 15 minutes. just so i keep myself at a half-awake mode and not fall into deep sleep ala sleeping beauty, and wake up a century or two later.

i received an email from my advisor at 9:39 am.

i'm not the greatest person on technological stuff, but i'm not that daft either. how long does it take to locate my name in their system, especially when no one else has my name and they already know my student id? how long does it take to check a few boxes like "allow student to register for fall 2008?" and click a few mouses? does it reeeeeeally take more than an hour?

i could have baked an entire pie in that time, ok. not that i bake pies, but i could have!

and of course, all the classes i wanted were filled and the sections were closed, and i had to settle for classes that were not my initial preferred classes.

i hate them hate them hate them.

when you're operating a university as big as the new school is, and a school as old and as famous as parsons is, you really have to get your act together. don't bitch to us about our attendance and about how we should do this and that, when as a university, you mess things up yourself. the only reason why this school is fabulous is because of its teachers. as for all the administration, it's a pity that those who really try hard aren't getting praised, because there are bigger idiots who mess things up so big all the time it's hard to even realize their good moments. i don't know why my parents are paying US 40 grand a year for fees when we have idiots like that running the school. where the hell is my money going to??? why can't we even get decent irons that work properly? how much is a freakin professional iron? i don't want some lousy 300 dollar piece of crap that at-home seamstresses can buy. did you guys watch one of the later episodes of project runway in season 4, i think it was when roberto cavalli was guest judge, when jillian was panicking about not finishing her dress on time, and she got fed up with the irons in parsons? i remembered watching her curse at those stupid things and i remember saying, "YES!!! EXACTLY!!! thank you!"

plus, they send out emails telling us to vote for some student senate, and some other email about a competition on "what would you do if you had $2000 to spend?" or some amount like that. well how about updating the machines in school?

it's disgusting and i'm dumbfounded. flabbergasted. i don't even wanna compare it to bunka because bunka's facilities were top-notch and amazing. parsons should be ashamed of themselves. and they should really take a trip to tokyo and have a look at how great the amenities are there. HMPH! with a capital H!


another hellava bitchy post
from your favorite first-class bitch,

gilda xox

today's get-up 10feb2008

wow, i just found these on my mac. they're like old already, but i thought i'd put them up anyway. whoops!!! i mean, it's not even winter anymore!!

ugh, i'm sorry the pictures are so blur and grainy ok... i have no money to buy myself a spiffy camera yet. this was like the only winter-ish day in new york. i was in soho and it started snowing all of a sudden. seriously, it was howwwwling. after a few seconds my entire coat was covered in snow flakes!

• navy pile bear coat by mercibeaucoup;
• checked muffler by ne-net
• evil heart tee by comme des garcons
• navy wool dress/cow suit by mercibeaucoup;
• red tights
• black lace slip-on shoes by undercover

new hair!! (then) now it's old. i got it cut when i was in japan in january, by my super darling, manabu. he's the hair whiz whom i entrusted my hair with for 3 years while i was living in japan. he's more important than a boyfriend. no, really!! i need him so bad. my hair is now flat and not very cool at all. in fact, i sent him a postcard that said something like this:

dearest manabu,
thank you for 3 beautiful years.
i'm lonely in new york. i need you, i want you, i love you!!
please come and save me asap!!
love, gilda

i'm telling you, when you find someone who knows your hair, it might be a more important relationship than some other guy who just holds your hand.

life is beautiful

i spent the whole day sleeping today. but ah well, i've really been working really hard. we just ended our group project in school. we've been working on it for more than a month, with all of us doing 2 rounds of design croquis. we had 4 people in each group with 4 groups in our class. i'm sure you all know if but hell, group project was not easy at all. having to coordinate stuff ain't ever easy. plus sometimes you might get people who don't bother to give an opinion or don't even show up at school and you have to work extra hard for things to turn out right. you know what they say, whoever they are – "when you want something done right you've gotta do it yourself." that was exactly what happened. i was in charge of drawing the figures (and drawing 21 ain't easy peasy), but had to help with the painting to make sure the collection really looked good. thank god i had 2 other group members who were amazing and did their job well. phew!!

overall i think our collection was pretty successful! we got quite a good grade too. once i get them scanned i'll upload for you guys to see.

other than that, i've been busy but somehow, in the last few weeks, it has been a very exciting time for me. i'm happy doing what i love doing, and i guess that's what matters most.

i've also been watching a lot of japanese tv recently. (don't you love the internet?) i miss japan so much. how many times have i repeated that in the last year!! sorry if you're sick of it, but i do. i miss my friends, i miss the rabbit-hole apartment i used to live in, i miss the food, i miss the shopping, i miss the tv, and i really miss smap. i really do, as stupid as that might sound.

in other exciting news, did you hear that comme des garcons is going to be doing a collaboration with h&m??? holy crap, i was checking my mail on my iphone, while totally half-asleep in bed, and read it in one of my hundreds of fashion email. i can't even begin to tell you how big my eyes opened up and how wide awake that made me in an instant! haha.

i don't buy a lot of things from h&m because it isn't the best quality, but i do go in once in a while and get some stuff that are better made. when they did the collaboration with robert cavalli i was tempted to buy a leopard-print dress but decided against it since i have nowhere to wear it to anyway. but a collaboration with comme des garcons!?!? i'm gonna buy EVERYTHING. if you don't know how big of a fan i am, you haven't been seeing enough of my get-ups. (which reminds me, i haven't posted one of those in a while.)

in other exciting news, x japan is coming to new york in september!!!!! if you call yourself a music or a japan fan, and you don't know x japan, then seriously, shame on you. yes yes yes they jumpstarted the visual rock phenomenon in japan many years ago (and serious they looked quite horrid). but they dress like any other rocker dude now, and they have such amazing melodies, i can't even express it. x japan is a legendary band in japan. they broke up 10 years ago and one of their members had an accidental death after that. it was only just last week that they did 3 reunion concerts. everything that you might have seen or heard about japan's music, has probably had an influence by x japan. not just visual rock, but rock and manga and anime and all kinds of music. even the ex-prime minister, mr koizumi, was a fan and used to go to their concerts.

do yourself a huge favor and search for their videos on youtube. i am in love with yoshiki, the band leader as well as pianist and drummer. yes, he plays both those instruments in concert, and he is probably one of the most talented musicians of our time. i've never seen anyone playing the piano or drums with that kind of passion before. he's truly amazing. he's said to be able to hit the drums at like 800 beats a minute. i don't know if the reports are lying, but anything over a hundred sounds pretty amazing to me. he wears a neck brace during performances because his neck has been injured for years, due to the crazy drum bashing he does. and his fingers apparently always swell and when not playing the piano he has to wear a wrist brace because he's had injuries from over-playing the piano.

i can't express what a talent he is on either instrument. you've really gotta just watch it yourself.

they just announced like 2 days ago that they're gonna be coming to new york as part of their world tour, which they haven't really planned much on. they'll be playing in madison square garden on september 13th. i don't know if i would even be able to buy tickets, considering the number of fans they have worldwide. but you bet your ass i'm gonna try. ahhhhhh!!!

i'm like soooooo excited!!! i've always wished i could go to their concerts, and i never expected for them to ever reunite! holy guacamole!! please go to itunes and listen to their songs. my favorites are their ballads, "tears", "endless rain" and my favorite, "forever love". if you like rock songs, listen to "dahlia", "kurenai" and "rusty nail". oh but whatever, just "forever love" at least. it is so beautiful.

i could listen to it over and over again and find myself loving it even more.