I like this song.

Three things about Hong Kong: Originally colonized by the British, its official languages are Chinese (spoken Cantonese) and English. It’s the most densely populated city in world. If it is your first time visiting, you might want to book your trip for longer than a weekend.

Ralph Lauren shirt (from Francis’s closet), UO bag, Jeans from outlet mall, Dolce Vita boots
We stayed at the Imperial Hotel on Nathan road just next door to Chungking Mansion. This is where Chungking Express was filmed. Now all I need is my sunglasses, Burberry trench and a Marilyn Monroe wig and it would be enough to say, “eat your heart out, Faye Wong.”

If you are a born and bread island person, there will be a lot of firsts for you.

Things like commuting via metro

coming out to play in Disneyland

The live theater show, I enjoyed most of course

riding a crystal cable car suspended 112 feet high

goofing around the Avenue of Stars, wataaah!

vintage sweater, Korean boutique pleated skirt

meditating in sacred places

I am like totally zen

Neneee romper
and generally experiencing the hustle and bustle energy of a big city.

City people weren’t always as curteous as the island peeps I am so accustomed to, but you have to hand it to them for keeping it real. “You no buying, no take pikchar. I am not actress,” said the starlet above.

One thing I was super looking forward to was shopping at H&M, but it was pretty much a let down. Over rated and not so different from shopping at Macy’s or any other commercial department store on Guam, even shopping at Disneyland was way more exciting. The provincial markets on Temple street, Tsim Sha Tsui and fisherman’s village yielded the best novelty prezzies to take home.

Bruce Lee tee, various types of Chinese teas: jasmine, pu erh, lychee, ti kuan yin, white and orchid, Little Prince marshmallows–if only for the packaging, Mickey Mouse chocolates, classic Mickey tee (which would look even better after a one billion washes), MMJ make-up bag, remote control helicopter, lots of black workwear, cheap clothes, expensive shoes
“Bring two empty luggages and a lot of money.” That’s what Mieko said when I told her I was going. It’s a good thing I kept it in mind and also stuffed an extra duffel bag into the front pocket of our check-in baggage.

Eat your vegetables!

If there’s such a thing as buyer’s remorse, even worse is the antithetical nonbuyer’s remorse. I’ll forever regret not buying those miniature wind-up dancing robots and funny splatballs from the old man with no voice and kind eyes at the Tsim Sha Tsui market. Our intuition is good; the problem is we ignore it. I need to learn how to be more implulsive. Like when we decided to have 3 dollar 32 ouncers (amazing!) literally smack dab in the middle of the street. Those were really nice served with poached snail thingamagiggies in a dark chili sauce. I forget what the dish is called, but if anyone knows, please please please drop a line.

Last week I finally scavenged eBay only to find those little dancing robots and splatballs I so wanted but tried to convince myself I didn’t need. I bought them anyway. So I don’t need them per se. So what? They are just cool things to have around. Like in case of emergency, break glass and play with these, they’re fun! And since they are being shipped from Hong Kong, I imagine they are coming from that same kind old man in that same crowded old market.

A final note on commuting in Hong Kong: drivers are either suicidal or insane. Or both. Every time we decide to hop in the back of a cab or bus, I find myself hanging on for dear life. All the while The Smiths are playing There is a Light That Never Goes Out” in the back of my head. That song could pretty much sum up the entire duration of our stay.

16 ways to annoy people:

1. Specify that your drive-thru order is “to go.”

2. If you have a glass eye, tap on it occasionally with your pen while talking to others.

3. Start each meal by conspicuously licking all your food, and announce that this is so no one will “swipe your grub.”

4. Name your dog “Dog.”

5. Insist on keeping your car windshield wipers running in all weather conditions “to keep them tuned up.”

6. Reply to everything someone says with “that’s what you think.”

7. Claim that you must always wear a bicycle helmet as part of your “astronaut training.”

8. Follow a few paces behind someone, spraying everything they touch with a can of Lysol.

9. Make beeping noises when a large person backs up.

10. Do not add any inflection to the end of your sentences, producing awkward silences with the impression that you’ll be saying more any moment.

11. Adjust the tint on your TV so that all the people are green, and insist to others that you “like it that way.”

12. Sing along at the opera.

13. Leave the copy machine set to reduce 200%, extra dark, 17 inch paper, 99 copies.

14. In the memo field of all your checks, write “for sensual massage.”

15. Practice making fax and modem noises.

16. Write the surprise ending to a novel on its first page.

via dbooth

3 ways to wear a skirt:

Look 1: by the hour… glass
I took Dave Matthews seriously when he said, “hike up your skirt a little more.” You can pull long skirts up to your chest and sport them as a dress instead. Try belting it to add a little more shape.

Sally Scott skirt (gift from Marlena [thankies, Marlena! I love it xD])
vintage glasses and brooch
LeTigre cardigan sweater
hot pink belt (swapped with Lydia)
nylon socks from ebay
Melissa shoes

Look 2: trapeze swinger
Same skirt-worn-as-a-dress trick, except in a trapeze silhouette—it’s most forgiving on days when you’re feeling bloated. Also, did somebody say all you can eat buffet? Bring it on.

vintage denim vest
Mickey Mouse watch (gift from my mom)
Slow and Steady wins the Race oxfords
thrifted Polo brown leather belt
straw boater hat from ebay

Look 3: skirting the issue
Of course, sometimes a skirt is best worn as such. I like the idea of balancing out the demure length and fancy style of this one by pairing it with a casual cropped sweatshirt.

American Apparel heather grey cropped hoodie
friendship bracelets
self-made necklace and studded bangle
Pierre Hardy for Gap shoes

On the coffee table, there’s a mountain pile of tissue soaked in green phlegm, 1 Logitech universal remote control, 36 short films amounting to 11 hours on 4 DVDs of Charlie Chaplin’s short films, 1 copy of The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Sewn Product Manufacturing by Kathleen Fasenella, 8 caplets American Fare Cold & Flu medicine (may cause drowsiness), 2 empty wooden coasters, the Maxx Barry novel Syrup, 1 Webster’s New World Pocket dictionary, and a tube of cherry-flavored chapstick. On the couch, there’s me and a black corduroy comforter. Bah, it’s been over a week. What the duck, antibodies?! Get with it!

After we took these photos some few weeks ago, I asked Francis to scrap them because my outfit was sort of plain Jane. Thank goodness he didn’t because today I’m caving to the sound of those awful chirping crickets.

Sometimes I find myself more open to an outfit/collection/artist/opinion/everything if I can see where it’s coming from:

Cover art for the Broadway musical Once on This Island. This also prompted me to blast the original score on repeat for three-days-straight. You should have seen Francis’s head explode. Poor guy.

I’m not quite sure what’s what with teenagers these days—somehow I get the impression it’s gotta involve that Michael Cera dude or forget about it—but back then, professing your love for Broadway musicals was tantamount to committing social suicide. The art kids created visually stimulating drawings. The band geeks made magic brass and string harmonies. And the choir could lull you off to oblivion like Sirens.

But the theater guild (read: drama freaks)—we were like the bottom feeders of the fine arts electives. Not the surgeons saving lives and stuff, just the dentists pulling teeth. The irony was that people I’ve met through theater were always the most genuine and sincere in real life; they were the coolest. Either that or they were really good actors. Which, let’s face it, is not the case particularly with live theater when everything has to be over-exaggerated for the stage.

Reena used to say, “I have no room for drama in my life,” but she lied because our lives revolved around it.

peasant dress & wooden necklace – self-made
beaded bracelet – Gallop USA
silver rings – gifts from Loraine
mint green sandals – Ecote

If you noticed the album cover for Interjection from the Sad Violins, there’s a miniature violin resting on the palm of a hand. Do you remember that conversation about tipping with Mr. Pink in Reservoir Dogs? How he rubs his pointer and thumb together and says, “You know what this is? It’s the world’s smallest violin playing a tune for the waitresses.” You guyzzz, that is totally the violin he was playing!

You can download Poppet’s first release here for free. It’s an EP with songs about birds.

Molly’s adorable sketch complete with little notes and a smiley made it super easy for me to figure out how she wanted it to look:

Molly performing in said show (and said unitard):