Happy Mid-Autumn Day!
Posted by: lavendarbliss on: October 4, 2009
My dad e-mailed me this…it’s quite funny and cute.
親愛的朋友们， 中秋又到， 祝大家身体健康，腰包鼓鼓的。 借国内朋友送来的动片， 向大家问好。 
：
佳節將至為
送上我
的
餅 CC
第餅：圓月餅，代表
一顆圓圓的
，寄託了一份圓圓的
，希望
能圓一個圓圓的
。
第餅：千層餅，第一層
第二層
第三層
中間夾層甜蜜！
你喜歡！
第餅：
工餅，用
浪漫
皮；
溫馨
餡；
幸福
蛋黃；懂得
味的人不需要多
第餅：
法餅，成份：真心
快樂；保質期：一生；營養：溫馨
幸福
真情；製造：想念你的人。
第餅：團圓餅，平安的餡，
的皮，
的盒子，
的繩。
~~明月，一閃一閃
，掛天邊；
~~~思念，一絲一絲，連成線；
~~回憶，一幕一幕，在眼前；
~~~但願，一年一
，人圓全。
啊~~ ，WHO 偷吃
了
的餅？
好了，
圓了，家圓了，肚子圓了
最好錢包也圓了^^”
佳節快樂闔家團圓美滿！！！
最後
I’m too lazy to translate it…but even if you can’t read it, you can still appreciate the cute cartoons right? I’m upset that I didn’t actually get to see the moon tonight though…it is way too cloudy in Houston to see anything!
I went to the Korean American Chuseok Festival in Houston today. It had free food, free prizes, and performances. We got there late, and so we missed the traditional fan dances and gayaneum (traditional Korean zither) performances but we caught the b-boying and K-pop acts, which were my personal favorite. I recorded the K-pop dance act’s performance:
Afterwards I went to the new Amore Pacific store that just opened up across the street from H-mart. A mother-daughter team owns the shop, and they were very helpful. They had a skin analysis software that told you how well your skin was doing in terms of moisture, sebum production, and elasticity. It also magnifies your skin by like 30x. Um, yeah, it wasn’t very pretty lol. I knew my skin was oily and porous, but I was surprised to find out that it also had poor elasticity. I thought that having oily skin would help you with that, ha. The computer said something about externally it may look fine but it was internally weak. I’m not quite sure what that means? Anyway, I decided to buy a couple of things there (I always feel that Asian skin care products are better for Asian skin and use more natural ingredients than their American counterparts) and the ladies were nice enough to throw in a ton of free samples, so I was super happy. They also packed it all into a really cute pink AmorePacific tote, that’ll definitely come in handy for books or groceries. 
2PM’s leader quits
Posted by: lavendarbliss on: September 11, 2009
What started out as a mere complaint on Myspace to a close friend has turned into something much larger than any of us could have imagined. Park Jaebeom, the 23-year old leader of my favorite Korean group 2PM, resigned on Sept. 8th over comments that he made to his friends about Korea:
Many Koreans were immediately enraged at his comments…saying things like, “How can he say that about his homeland”, etc. I understand their anger, because if a celebrity that I liked said that about China, I’d be pretty upset also. However, these comments are from 4 years ago..and so much has changed since then. Jay was just starting out as a trainee in Korea-he couldn’t speak the language, couldn’t adapt to the culture, and didn’t have any friends. He was just practicing 24/7 and even underwent rigorous military-style training. All of that can be pretty overwhelming when you’re just 18 years old. It’s understandable that he’s complain to his friends about his situation. What many people did not realize until it was too late is that Jay made a 180 degree turn and grew to embrace Korea. His more recent comments include things like, “I feel more and more Korean everyday”. You could tell how happy he was just by watching him on interviews and variety shows-he loved what he was doing.
Jaebum issued an apology expressing the shame and regret that he felt at his words. However, many Koreans still found his actions unacceptable; there was even a suicide petition going around that demanded he kill himself…and there were over 5,000 signatures on it. On the 8th, Jay left a message in his fancafe that said:
Hello, I’m 2PM’s JaeBum.
I’m sorry for giving you my last greeting through this letter.
I think it will be hard for me to see you all on stage because of my sorry heart.
I’m really sorry to everyone, and I’m even more sorry to the fans who have shown me love.
From today, I will leave 2PM.
2PM boys, I’m really sorry to the boys and I’m sorry I couldn’t be strong as a leader and a hyung and have to leave like this.
However, I hope you will be more cool and charming.
Again, I’m sorry.
JaeBum
credit: HOTTEST fancafe
He then returned to Seattle to be with his family. Numerous supporters showed up at the airport to try to prevent him from leaving, but it was to no avail. He quietly slipped through a gate different than the one listed on his ticket. His final bow…
There are many rumors flying around, and none of us fans know what to believe. This is one account that was posted online:
Credit: Kor-Eng by Kirstyn@2pm-online.com
“I heard this from one of JYPE staff and this is not a rumor. If you misunderstand me, there’s nothing I can really do about it. But, please trust my words. I’ve got nothing to earn for spreading rumor. I’m active member in Hottest official cafe, onedayroom, and etc; and many people know me as well. I’m over 28 years old, I really have no intention or even time to create a rumor, if I do, and it’ll be too embarrassing.
To tell you the conclusion first, Jay’s leaving was already decided by JYPE before he said it. It is true that Jay himself brought up the word of “leaving” However, JYPE made such situation, and cornered him to say it. They had one-by-one talk with each members of 2PM, and asked Jay what should we do, shouldn’t you be responsible for this; and they pushed him till he says “ok, I’ll leave”
The moment he said “I’ll leave”, none of JYPE staffs blocked him from that. Jay’s leaving won’t give much problem to JYPE Company, because they can simply just choose the other one from tones of their trainees.
But, what about Jay who has worked so hard for such long time. He had already done the recording for the next album which was to be released in October. It was JYPE who kicked Jay out of 2PM. It was not Jay’s decision at all although that’s how it was known through the press in Korea. In Korean Management Company, it is almost impossible for Jay to quit by himself. It has only been a year that he debuted as a singer; he has no power to do such thing. I do not understand why people give such big trust in JYPE.
JYPE is just another typical company where its first concern is business, and making a profit.
There are three solutions currently discussed at JYPE.
1. 2PM with 6 members
2. Bringing in new member
3. Combining one day (2AM+2PM)
In my opinion, 2PM will not be 2PM without Jay. Even though he is not my favorite member, he is undoubtedly the glue that holds everyone together. He’s the most well rounded performer and is one of the most popular members. His spontaneity, passion, and charisma make him a joy to watch on stage and in variety shows.With Jay’s sudden departure, the future of 2PM remains uncertain. Many appearances have been canceled, and many stations have even decided to stop broadcasting pre-recorded shows that Jay makes an appearance in. (I’m going to miss Wild Bunny…T_T)
The amount of support that he has gotten from the fan community and other artists and now even politicians has been amazing. The Hottests (2PM’s fan club) have gone into a frenzy protesting his absence. They’ve stuck tons of post-its with encouraging messages on the JYP building in both Seoul and NYC:
Fans in NYC are organizing a peaceful protest that will begin tomorrow outside of the Manhattan JYP center starting at (when else?) 2 pm. There have been numerous petitions going around, the latest of which is boycotting all JYP ent activities; they are refusing to buy any music or tickets that feature JYP artists. As extreme as this may sound, it might just be the solution. One of Jay’s closest friends wrote:
“Like i said on the other videos everything my homie Jay said was 5 years ago. when he moved out there it was a different experience and he was just homesick. it was purely being an ignorant 18 year old in which he has already apologized. of course he loves korea, he loves his fans country and gained a whole new appreciation for the culture. Jay was telling me yesterday that the only thing saving his career right now are his fans. show some support and cut the dude a break hes only human.
thank the world for people like you. to be honest im not a kpop fan at all. im just really good friends with jay hes like a brother and to see something like this happen to him just really hurts to see. people need to understand he was young, naive and out of his element. he knew very little about the culture and environment.
hes out here seattle w/friends and fam and hes thankful for all his fans doing this for him. he said himself the people who will save his career are his fans.
- Chico”
Of course I don’t want to force Jay into coming back, nor do I want to cause him any extra pain by having him watch the other 6 members suffer. If he really wants out, then I support that decision. However, I just can’t shake off this nagging feeling that his decision was not his own and instead heavily influenced by his management. If we show him enough support, he will be able to come back. He has 7 more years left in his contract, and as a Korean pop idol (notorious for basically being the toys of their companies), he doesn’t have any sort of legal power to stand up to JYP. There has been a ton of press coverage, and he has almost become a martyr of sorts, showcasing the effects that Korean Netizens can have on an artist. In fact, many have criticized Netizens before for their harsh words, which has played a heavy part in the suicides of many celebrities over the years-U;nee and Choi Jin Shil are 2 that come to my mind. This just has to stop. While the girls that exposed Jay have apologized, it’s too late now. The repercussions have already happened.
4 years of hard work and ambitious dreams…shattered by just 4 days.
Hottest love you, Jay. Please come back if you can…we miss our pink grandpa leadja. =(
Fan dedication videos:
2PM: 7-1 = 0
NY Times Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
Posted by: lavendarbliss on: August 31, 2009
- In: Food
- Leave a Comment
The NY times posted an article about a year ago about the secret to an amazing chocolate chip cookie. Well, I’ve wanted to try the recipe ever since, but have been in kind of a dilemma because the Jacques Torres recipe that is listed requires specific chocolate disks that aren’t sold in Galveston. Now that I’m in Houston with a wealth of ingredients, the time to try the recipe has come!
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from Jacques Torres
Time: 45 minutes (for 1 6-cookie batch), plus at least 24 hours’ chilling
2 cups minus 2 tablespoons
(8 1/2 ounces) cake flour
1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract
1 1/4 pounds bittersweet chocolate disks or fèves, at least 60 percent cacao content (see note)
Sea salt.
1. Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.
2. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Drop chocolate pieces in and incorporate them without breaking them. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.
3. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside.
4. Scoop 6 3 1/2-ounce mounds of dough (the size of generous golf balls) onto baking sheet, making sure to turn horizontally any chocolate pieces that are poking up; it will make for a more attractive cookie. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. Repeat with remaining dough, or reserve dough, refrigerated, for baking remaining batches the next day. Eat warm, with a big napkin.
Yield: 1 1/2 dozen 5-inch cookies.
Note: Disks are sold at Jacques Torres Chocolate; Valrhona fèves, oval-shaped chocolate pieces, are at Whole Foods.
The product:
The verdict? OHMAGAWD SO FREAKING GOOD!! Yes, they are humongous…and yes, I ate 2 in one sitting. It was too good!! The edges were crisp but the middle was soft and gooey, and the chocolate was divine (I used the Valrhona chocolate disks). This first batch had been refrigerated for 48 hours; I actually forgot to sprinkle salt on the cookies before I baked them, so I will have to do that when I bake the next batch tomorrow. But this is definitely a chocolate chip recipe that you need to try!!
MSIII so far..
Posted by: lavendarbliss on: August 21, 2009
- In: Medical| School
- Leave a Comment
I’ve been meaning to post again for awhile now, but I’ve just been busy…but more like lazy. I can’t believe that I’ve already made it so far in my med school career, time seems to have flown by so quickly!
So far, I’ve done OB/GYN and am currently on Psych. OB/GYN was pretty terrible. I came into med school knowing that it was crossed off my list (hours are too long, and I’m not comfortable manipulating people’s genitals all day long) and this rotation did nothing to change my mind. The first 3 weeks I was on L&D (labor and delivery) and antepartum care; the latter part of my 3 weeks was spent in clinic. In my 2 weeks on L&D, I only got to deliver one baby. I kid you not. I almost wanted to be in Austin where they have babies falling out everywhere. I guess it was bad luck on my part, because all of the OB/GYN interns just got there, and they need to perform a certain number of deliveries, so they obviously had priority over us. The residents were so busy that they never had time to just sit down and teach us, so we were just kinda left hanging. Gynecology clinic was even worse. It was not a strictly GYN clinic, and so half the time I was still measuring fundal heights and trying to listen to fetal heart tones. The rest of the time, I was just shadowing…so I think I got to overall do 2-3 pap smears in 3 weeks. I was bored out of my mind. I even got kicked out of the room on several occasions, and I guess I understand because I wouldn’t want any more people than necessary to stare at my privates, but that didn’t make me any less irritated. I did not get to see any gyn surgery or uro-gyn, but I did get to see some REI (reproduction, endocrinology, and infertility). All in all, it really was a waste of my 6 weeks, and I didn’t feel very prepared for my shelf exam at the end. Truthfully, it probably won’t matter in the future that my OB/GYN experienced sucked, because I’m considering neurology, but at the same time, I want to enjoy my clerkships and learn something useful from the experience.
Psychiatry on the other hand is really interesting, and I’m enjoying it so far. I think the reason why I like it so much more is because it correlates well with Neuro-in fact, they take the same test for board certification. The psychiatrist that I work with specializes in organ transplant patients (especially liver transplants) and pain management, so a lot of them patients that I see are really really sick. It’s been so different from OB/GYN, where for the most part you saw young, healthy women who didn’t have a lot of chronic diseases. It’s been really hard for me emotionally to handle some of the patients. I love talking to them and trying to get them better, but some of their stories are really heart-breaking, and everyone is just so depressed. We’ve also been seeing a lot of geriatric patients, and then I start thinking to myself, “Oh God, how am I going to handle my parents going through this?” So many of our patients tell me the same thing, “I don’t want to try to kill myself, but I’m just tired of it all. Sometimes I just wish that I could just go in my sleep. This, with all the tubes and whatnot, this isn’t life.” Almost half of my patients start crying as I start talking to them, and I’ll start to get really emotional and want to start crying too. I stop myself because I know that I have to be professional and crying doesn’t accomplish anything for the patient, but I guess it’ll just take awhile for me to get used to it all. One of the patients that I saw today has full-blown AIDS, and her CD4 count was 0. Which means that none of her helper T cells (which are part of her immune system to fight off infection) are working. I sat there and I realized…this woman only has a few weeks. As I was talking to her, I discovered that she was in denial of how sick she was. Whenever I asked her anything about end of life care, or code status, she would just zone out and refuse to answer me. When my attending came in and talker to her, I was just amazed at how skillfully she drew out answers from her, and that’s definitely something that I’ll need to learn for the future.
On a lighter note, I saw a robot doctor for the first time yesterday. If you’ve never head of it, take a look at this article that MSNBC wrote on it. I was in the ICU with my attending, and she stepped into the room first to interview the patient. As I started to make my way into the room, I noticed some sort of machine with a monitor rolling its way down the hall toward me. I stopped and stared at it, and thought, “Uhhh….ooo..kk..?” but just went ahead into the room. Next thing I know, the robot zooms into our room and interrupts my attending while she’s doing her interview. The man in the screen goes, “Hi, I’m Dr. so-and-so with the ICU team, how are you doing? Etc, etc.” My attending and I just kinda stared at the robot in shock. After it was done, the monitor swiveled around and then wheeled itself outside to park across the hall. Afterward, the message on the screen read, “The ICU Urgent Care team is currently in conference. For emergencies, please contact XXX-XXXX.” I was like, those lazy butts need to walk over here and talk to the patient in person! They’re in scrubs and sneakers; my attending and I are all dressed up and in heels, if we can walk all over the hospital, they can do it too! And how exactly are they supposed to examine the patient? Geez, I really hope that this isn’t the direction that medicine is taking, it’s already so de-personalized.
“The science of Psychiatry is now where the science of Medicine was before germs were discovered”
Malcolm Rogers
What time is it now?
Posted by: lavendarbliss on: May 30, 2009
2.P.M!!
OK, I just had that stuck in my head. I have developed a recent obsession for this Korean boyband, who has been touted as JYP’s secret weapon. From the same company that brought us superstars like Rain and the Wonder Girls, 2 PM has trained for years to break boyband stereotypes and project a multi-talented, manly image. I love the acrobatics that they incorporate into their performances, and their songs are really catchy too. 2 P.M. is composed of 7 members, but my favorites are Ok TaecYeon and NichKhun.
May I present to you…why you shouldn’t be mean to nerdy guys:
From this…
To this!! ^________^
Oh yes. I love me some 6′2 CocoTaec/Giant Mickey Mouse/ Mr. Rich-in-Teeth. Who cares if he’s 2 years younger than me?
NichKhun on the other hand, is just the sweetest, cutest thing ever. He has such an angelic face and a boyish charm that sweeps you off you feet. He’s also a complete gentleman with a warm, caring heart. Just watch this clip of him at Star Golden Bell with the choir from a school for the blind:
Did I mention that he can speak fluent English, Thai, and Korean? He’s also working on learning Chinese.
These two are actually BFF’s, affectionately named Taeckhun, Cocokhun, or Chocolate & Vanilla (referring to the difference in their skin colors, haha).
All of 2 PM together:
*All pictures credited to Soompi’s official 2pm thread*
Their song ‘Again and Again’, which has been on a winning streak in Korea lately:
OMG, I haven’t fan-girled like this in a long time. Speaking of time-it is T-2 weeks until the hardest test of my life, so this is the absolute worst time for me to start liking a new artist! But…I can’t help it, they’re too cute. 
A picture of us girls from the Osler Society Gala from 2-3 weeks ago (I can’t remember how long ago it was, all the days kinda meld together when you study 24/7).
Yeah my hair = frizzball. I tried to curl it with my straightening iron (there IS a way to do this, even though it might sound strange at first) but it didn’t work out too well.
I’ve decided that by the end of this year I will run my first marathon..we’ll see how that goes…
Love is…
Posted by: lavendarbliss on: May 10, 2009
What Love means to a 4-8 year old . . .
Slow down for three minutes to read this. It is so worth it. Touching words from the mouth of babes.
A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds, ‘What does love mean?’
The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined. See what you think.
‘When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her toenails anymore.
So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That’s love.’
Rebecca- age 8
‘When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different.
You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.’
Billy – age 4
‘Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.’
Karl – age 5
‘Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.’
Chrissy – age 6
‘Love is what makes you smile when you’re tired.’
Terri – age 4
‘Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK.’
Danny – age 7
‘Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more.
My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss’
Emily – age 8
‘Love is what’s in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.’
Bobby – age 7 (Wow!)
‘If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate,’
Nikka – age 6
(we need a few million more Nikka’s on this planet)
‘Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday.’
Noelle – age 7
‘During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling.
He was the only one doing that. I wasn’t scared anymore.’
Cindy – age 8
‘Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.’
Elaine-age 5
‘Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford.’
Chris – age 7
‘Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.’
Mary Ann – age 4
‘I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones.’
Lauren – age 4
‘When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you.’ (what an image)
Karen – age 7
‘Love is when Mommy sees Daddy on the toilet and she doesn’t think it’s gross.’
Mark – age 6
‘You really shouldn’t say ‘I love you’ unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.’
Jessica – age 8
And the final one
The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife.
Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman’s yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there.
When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said,
‘Nothing, I just helped him cry’
For some reason, I feel like people are just hooking up left to right these days. Maybe it’s the stress from board studying, or the rising heat outside, but everytime I turn around or log onto Facebook, I seem to see a new relationship blossoming.
I think I have my weird relationship mentality figured out. So you know how there’s this theory about women either going 1 of 2 ways: they either want to marry someone like their father or someone completely opposite. Fortunately enough, I have a great father whom I really respect. But it’s hard to find someone who measures up to him. Once I do find someone that I like, I go into super-awkward mode. It’s easy for me to talk and flirt and laugh with my normal guy friends, but around guys that I’m interested in, I just clam up. I think it’s a defense mechanism; I had really bad self confidence in high school (I went through a prolonged awkward or as I like to call it, “fugly” stage) and so I still have bouts of self-doubt. Whenever I did get up the courage to tell someone that I liked him, it never worked out. So I think I clam up around guys that I like to prevent myself from being hurt-subconsciously, I must think that if the guy doesn’t think that I’m interested in him, there’s no way that he can ever reject me. But obviously, that’s a big hurdle in me being able to find someone…
Hah. Who needs a therapist? I can psychoanalyze myself, thank you very much. 
Unusual Asian Beauty tools
Posted by: lavendarbliss on: March 19, 2009
The thing about Asian people is that in general, we have a really narrow sense of what makes a woman beautiful. Some of the traits that are highly regarded are
1. A pale, milky complexion
2. Large eyes
3. A small nose with a high bridge
4. Small, rosy cupid bow lips
5. Thin thin thin!!
Koreans are especially notorious for being nit-picky about what they think is pretty. In addition to the above, they look for small faces (literally fist-sized faces), “S-lines”, “U-lines” and “V-lines”. What are these lines, you ask? An S-line refers to the transverse view of a female physique, where the breasts and the butt constitute the curves of the letter “S”. Examples:
Singer ‘Ivy’
A V-line is the line of your jaw; basically a sharp chin is better than a U-shaped chin
An example would be BoA:
Whereas now a U-line refers to the curve of a female’s lower back.
Because of this, there are all kinds of gizmo’s, creams, lotions, etc out there that claim to give us ladies what we need to measure up to the Asian standards of beauty. I browse a lot of beauty websites as well as the selling and trading section of Soompi, and some of the stuff I find is absolutely hilarious…and then some just make you go 0_0 So I thought I would share some of them here:
Double Eyelids
Whether it be glue, tape, or a clip, there are numerous ways for girls who were born with single eyelids to try to obtain the envied double eyelids, which are supposed to make the eyes look bigger.
* Malian Double Eyelid Fibre **
Waterproof and sweatproof.
Helps to create natural double eyelid or deepen existing double eyelid.
Usage: Pull both ends of the stick to reveal the gel sticker.
Stick on the area above eye to create double eyelid.
Cut away the excess gel sticker at both ends.
Use the Y-shape tool for adjustment.
** Koji Eyetalk Glue **
In minutes, you’ll have charming big eyes, with prominent double eyelids!
EyeTalk Glue contains moisturing ingredient rosemary extract,
which moisturise your skin around eye area.
It is transparent in color after application.
** Double Line Clip **
Natural and long-lasting double eyelids by just clipping on.
Simply 5 minutes clipping and you don’t need eyelid tape anymore!
Nose Clips
** Nose Up Clip**
15 mins a day makes your nose nicer & more beautiful.
Face-slimmers
To obtain that V-shape
** Super Face Roller **
Hot pick in asia now! 2 in 1 rollers that can slim your cheek & chin.
You can use them separately or together!
** Slimming Mouth Piece **
Check out this Japan popular beauty tool with special adjustment design,
only need 2 to 3 mins day and night mouth exercise to become a smiling beauty with beautiful oval shape face.
How to use: Place the mouthpiece in between the mouth and make the sound “O” to exercise the face
Lip Mask
** Crystal Collagen Lip Mask **
With 100% natural collagen and Vitamin B5,
to quickly be absorbed into the skin and reactivate the dormant cells.
Whitening Products
** Shiseido Moisturizing White Mask **
Whitening, moisturising and anti-aging.
Helps to lighten pigmentation, freckles, minimise enlarge pores,
lift up whiteheads, reduce wrinkles and enhance elasticity of skin.
** Likas Papaya Whitening Soap **
Award-winning Filipino pure organic herbal soap.
Enriched with Papaya enzyme and blended with tropical herbs to whiten the skin.
For clearer and fine skin complexion.
No strong odor & No harsh ingredients.
Slimming Products
** Korean Detox Foot Patches **
Detox Foot Patches have a long history in Asia, especially in Korean, Japan and China. It is a natural way to assist your body in the removal of heavy metals, metabolic wastes, toxins, microscopic parasites, cellulite and much more. Detoxify your body today, to potentially regain your health and vitality by promoting a strong immune system and healthy lymphatic functions naturally – through the usage of the original Korean Detox Foot Patches.
Detox Foot Patches discharge internal moisture and toxins through foot points. It can relieve tensions & fatigue, promote sleeping, brighten & soften skin and promote health conditions.
Just attach this detox foot patch to your feet before sleeping, then it will help you to dispel toxins easily. It is shown on professional materials that by using the foot patch for 2 hours, the body wastes and toxins begin to be eliminated. In the next morning you will find large amounts of brownish black and sticky waste oil, liquid and toxins which have been absorbed by the foot patch. Sometimes the foot patch bag will turn yellowish-brown,dark brown or black because of individual difference.
Main Functions:
Promoting blood circulation & metabolism
Activating cells, improving functions of vital organs
Relieving foot fatigue
Relaxing muscles & tendons and eliminating moisture
Relieving swelling & pain
Promoting sleeping
Dispelling toxins accumulated in absorbent system
** Reborn Slimming Wrap **
Original Product, avoid imitation and non original wraps.
Marie France “REBORN” Slimming Wrap
Product from France & Made in Hong Kong
Easy to use and convenient slimming wrap that helps you to reduce fats without the need for exercise. Wrap up the slimming wrap for 30 – 45 mins and you can see results! It helps to reduces fat & tightens skin so as to reduce fine lines. It will also strengthens the skin’s elasticity, prevents cellulite & helps to eliminate toxins in our body.
Ingredients: Made with natural plant extracts including Paullinia, Cupana, Hedera Helix extract, Ginger extract essence, Chilli pepper oil, etc. No alcohol.
Directions:
1) Best to use after your shower. Otherwise, use a warm wet cloth to clean the area you want to put the wrap on before using the slim wrap.
2) Wrap the slim wrap round the area you want to use on as many times as you like.
3) Use the plastic cling wrap to hold the slim wrap in place.
4) Wrap for 30 – 45 mins
5) After use, massage the surplus essence into your skin until it is fully absorbed.
Product Specifications:
1. Each wrap can be used for 2 to 3 times.
2. Measures about 2.5m x 15cm
3. Use once every 2 – 3 days. Usage of 15 times is considered as 1 treatment course.
4. Recommended usage: 1 cold wrap after every 2-4 hot wraps.
5. Every treatment course is said to be able to help you to lose 5 to 10 kg.
Important:
1. Please do not apply any other creams or etc on wrap.
2. Avoid wounded areas.
3. If you are those with very sensitive skin, please avoid using.
4. After using there will appear some redness to the skin which is normal. It should disappear after 2 – 3 hours. If the redness persists, just use cold water to wash the affected area.
5. Avoid wrapping too tightly around your skin. Extreme usage may result in adverse effects.
2 Types Available
- Hot wraps – Reduce fats and swollen areas (more serious slimming)
- Cool wraps – Tighten skin & strengthen skin’s elasticity and reduce stretch marks (less serious slimming)
Recommended usage: 1 cold wrap after every 2-4 hot wraps
** Magnetic Slimming Rings**
A pair of toe rings that emit 1,100 Gauss magnetic force to stimulate your acupuncture points for slimming effect.
** Japan Shape-up Camisole **
A Brand New 3 in 1 hot pick from Japan!
Push Up • Tighten Stomach • Body Slimming Massage
Now you can enjoy slimming down anytime anywhere!
The cami firms your body with bust up control.
Seamless design fits in your daily routine. Your must-have beauty gadget!
** Hip-firming Slimming Leggings**
Hip-firming Slimming leggings with massage effect,
it burns your calories just by simply wearing.
- Consume 625 kcl per hour wearing
- Relieve water retention
- Prevent feet/ legs swelling
- Speed up metabolism
- Combat fatigue
- Prevent varicose veins & thrombosis
The leggings is made of different kinds of materials than normal ones and they are manufactured with special techniques to make 18 pressure points to get the massage & slimming effect. It’s better to hand wash to maintain its good shape. It’s suggested to wear about 5-6 hours each time wearing to achieve the desired effects. (if you wear it for 15 mins and take it off, it’s obviously cant make any effect.) If you dun feel comfortable to wear it for long at the beginning, you may increase the wearing hours gradually.
You may wear it just as normal leggings
and mix-n-match with your other clothings
Color: black
Other features: matte & opaque
Material: 33% cotton, 62% polyester, 5% spandex
Suitable for 150cm – 180cm tall
(some may find it ankle leggings or 4/5 leggings, )
- hand wash only
** Balo Slimming Cream **
Helps to break down excess fats, stimulates the blood and lymph circulation and accelerates the metabolism, helping to get rid of fats faster. Suitable for all types of skin.
How to use: Apply to areas with fats, cellulite and anywhere which you think needs some slimming down (e.g. arms, waist, lower abdomen, buttocks, thigh). Massage in an upwards direction.
Note: You will feel a heating sensation 15 mins after applying. Do not use too many times and different people may experience varying degrees of heat due to skin type. If you feel it’s too hot for you to bear, use a cooling agent like aloe vera gel to cool your skin.
2 types available:
- Chili
- Coffee (for sensitive skin)
** Leg Slimming Thigh Calf Shaping Slipper **
Designed to help give you a better body posture and shape.
Comfortable to wear, the angle and toe dividers aid in promoting circulation to unreachable parts of your foot.
Relieve fatigue calves after long time standing * highly recommended to high heels lovers*
Comes in pairs, free size
Body Enhancers
**Air Push-up Pads**
It’s a pair of inflatable push-up pads that you can adjust how thick the pads are, just by simply pressing.
Suitable for all kinds cup or size of bra.
Just release the air when you don’t need to be so busty….hehe…
You can decide how sexy you are in different occasions, it’s perfect for dating, parties & so on 
And my favorite…
Customer Product Rating
| “Helping Women Become More Feminine”
F-cup’s desire to produce tasty foods is evident in the taste, texture, and packaging of F-cup Cookies. To satisfy their customers, F-cup spends a significant amount of time conducting taste tests and listening to customer feedback. They are always looking for ways to improve their new style of health food products. |
Yet another natural breast enhancement innovation from Japan with eight essential amino acids!
Each F-cup Cookie contains 50mg of the herbal breast enhancer Pueraria Mirifica. Pueraria Mirifica is the same safe and effective, natural breast-enhancing ingredient found in B2UP Body Make Gum (Bust Up Gum). Learn more about Pueraria Mirifica »
As the name implies, F-cup Cookies will help you achieve larger breasts while you relax and enjoy a tasty, low calorie cook¡e. (An F cup size in Japan is like a DD cup size in the U.S.). Try an F-cup Cookie with Japanese Tea. A perfect combination.
F-cup Cookies now come in two flavors: Soy Milk (Plain) or Pralines and Chocolate. (Both flavors may not be available at the same time.)
For ease of use, each F-cup Cookie is individually wrapped, ready to enjoy anytime. Just 1 to 2 cook¡es per day is all that’s needed for natural breast enhancement. And it really works!
Look and feel younger. No one will ever know how you did it
YES. Cookies that claim to make your boobs bigger. Gee, I wonder how? My hypothesis is that it just makes you fatter-thus making your boobs look bigger, haha.
I must admit I have actually bought some of these products and am tempted to buy some of the others- especially the slimming products (I don’t really need the F cup cookies…). I always have this hope that there’ll be some miracle product that will help me lose weight in addition to the exercise that I usually do. I’m still on the hunt…
Dr. Alex Benzer: Why The Smartest People Have The Toughest Time Dating
Posted by: lavendarbliss on: March 9, 2009
Dr. Alex Benzer: Why The Smartest People Have The Toughest Time Dating
I have a mini-confession to make: I wrote the Tao of Dating books specifically for really smart people. The writing of the books was precipitated by the endemic dating woes on the Harvard campus, as I observed them as an advisor and earlier, indulged in them as a student.
Those kids graduate and pretty much continue to have the same dating woes — only now with fewer single people around who happen to live in the same building and share meals with them every day. So if they had challenges then, it gets about 1000 times worse once they’re tossed from the warm womb of their alma mater.
From my observations, the following dating challenges seem to be common to most smart people. In fact, the smarter you are, the more clueless you will be, and the more problems you’re going to have in your dating life. Once upon a day I used to be pretty smart, and believe me, I had a lock on clueless.
On the one hand, this makes no sense. Smart people can figure stuff out, right? And this stuff is simple!
On the other hand, it makes total sense. For simple things, it takes someone smart to really screw it up. So whether you went (or should have gone) to the likes of Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, Stanford, Columbia, Cornell, Swarthmore, Amherst, Dartmouth, Brown, Oxford, Cambridge, Berkeley, Penn, Caltech, Duke, read on:
1. Smart people spent more time on achievements than on relationships when growing up.
Smart kids usually come from smart families. And smart families are usually achievement-oriented. Bring me home those straight As, son. Get into those top colleges, daughter. Take piano, violin, tennis, swimming and Tibetan throat-singing lessons. Win every award there is in the book. Be ‘well-rounded.’
Well, you’re a talented little bugger. Of course you should develop those talents. At the same time, there’s an opportunity cost associated with achievement. Time spent studying, doing homework, and practicing the violin is time not spent doing other things — like chasing boys or girls, which turns out is fairly instrumental in making you a well-rounded human.
The upshot of all that achievement is that you get into a top college — congratulations! — and then continue doing even more of what you were doing before. Dating is at best another extracurricular, #6 or #7 down the list, somewhere between Model UN and intramural badminton.
I’ve been co-hosting young alumni events for name-brand schools for long enough to know that these kids come out a little lopsided (which sounds so much better than ’socially awkward’, don’t you think?). All they need is a little tune-up, or a little dating textbook like The Tao of Dating for Women or Men, to get them going — plus a little practice.
Of course, as noted above, things only get worse once you graduate. And if you’re frustrated with your love life, you just might try to compensate by working harder and achieving even more to fill that void. Left untreated, this condition can go on for decades. I know people in their 40s, 50s, 60s and beyond who still haven’t figured out how to create an intimate connection with another human being.
It’s because they’ve been going at it the wrong way. Which brings us to…
2. Smart people feel that they’re entitled to love because of their achievements.
For most of their lives, smart people inhabit a seemingly meritocratic universe: if they work hard, they get good results (or, in the case of really smart folks, even if they don’t work hard, they still get good results). Good results mean kudos, strokes, positive reinforcement, respect from peers, love from parents.
So it only makes sense that in the romantic arena, it should work the same way. Right? The more stuff I do, the more accomplishments and awards I have, the more girls (or boys) will like me. Right? Please say I’m right, because I’ve spent a LOT of time and energy accumulating this mental jewelry, and I’m going to be really bummed if you tell me it’s not going to get me laid.
Well, it’s not going to get you laid, brother (or sister). It may get you a first date, but it’s probably not going to get you a second date. And it certainly won’t bring you lasting love and fulfillment.
Here’s the thing: your romantic success has nothing to do with your mental jewelry and everything to do with how you make the other person feel. And making someone feel a certain way is a somewhat nonlinear process that requires a different kind of mastery than that of calculus or Shakespeare.
In other words, you need to earn love (or at least lust). Sadly, no mom, dad or professor teaches us about the power of the well-placed compliment (or put-down), giving attention but not too much attention, being caring without being needy. I wrote a whole 280-page book about that, so that’s a story for a different day.
3. You don’t feel like a fully-realized sexual being, and therefore don’t act like one.
At some point in your life, you got pegged as a smart person. From then on, that was your principal identity: The Smart One. Especially if you had a sibling who was better-looking than you, in which case she (or he) was The Pretty One.
Now you could be absolutely stunning (in which case you’re both smart AND pretty and everyone hates you except for me — call me, like, immediately), but your identity is still bound up in being The Smart One. So maybe you dress frumpy and don’t pay a lot of attention to your appearance. Or never bothered to cultivate your sensuality as a woman. Or your sexual aggression as a male.
Attracting a partner is all about the dance of polarity. Energy flows between positive and negative electrodes, anode and cathode, magnetic north and south. Unless you actually convey femininity as a woman or masculinity as a man, you’re not going to attract a suitable companion of the opposite sex.
Part of the issue is this: when all of your personal energy is concentrated in the head, it never gets a chance to trickle down to the heart, or, god forbid, the groin. By virtue of being born of the union of male and female, yang and yin, you are a sexual being. Deal with it. Now do what you need to do to perpetuate the race already. Use what mama amoeba gave you.
That brings us to…
4. You’re exceptionally talented at getting in the way of your own romantic success.
Here’s an incontrovertible fact: every one of your ancestors survived to reproductive age and got it on at least once with a member of the opposite sex. All the way back to Homo erectus. And even further back to Australopithecus. And even further back to monkeys, to lizards, to the first amphibian that crawled out of the slime, the fish that preceded that amphibian, the worm before the fish and the amoeba that preceded the worm.
And you, YOU, in the year 2009 C.E., the culmination of that miraculously unbroken line of succession, you, Homo sapiens sapiens, not just thinking man but thinking thinking man (or woman), are the only one smart enough to SCREW THE WHOLE THING UP.
Perhaps you should consider thinking a little less then.
Because heaven knows that the amoeba, worm, fish, amphibian, monkey and primitive hominids didn’t do a whole lot of thinking. Their DNA had a vested interest in perpetuating itself, so it made sure that happened.
Turns out your DNA works the same way, too. And maybe when you’re really sloshed at a party and your whole frontal lobe is on vacation in the outer rings of Saturn, you’ve noticed that your lizard brain knows exactly how to grab that cute girl by the waist for a twirl on the dance floor. Or knows exactly how to arch your back, flip your hair and glance at that handsome hunk just so such that he comes on over to say hi.
To put it plainly, you are programmed to reproduce. Now quit thinking you’re smarter than the 3 billion base pairs in your genome and 4 billion years of evolution. Actually, just stop thinking altogether. Let the program do its work.
5. By virtue (or vice) of being smart, you eliminate most of the planet’s inhabitants as a dating prospect
Let’s say by ’smart’ we mean ‘in the top 5% of the population in terms of intelligence and education’. Generally speaking, smart people seek out other smart people to hang out with, simply because they get bored otherwise. And if they’re going to spend a lot of time with someone, intelligence in a partner is pretty much a requirement.
Well, congratulations — you’ve just eliminated 95% of the world’s population as a potential mate, Mr or Ms Smartypants. Now, luckily, the world’s kinda big, so the remaining 5% of the gender of your choice is still a plentiful 160 million or so people. Even if only 1% of those are single enough, good-looking enough, local enough and just all-around cool enough for you, that’s over a million people you can date out there.
Still, that’s less than one in five thousand people. And if you live in a smaller city, it may be just a handful of folks who are going to meet your stringent criteria.
At this point, you have three choices:
A) Loosen up
B) Do a very thorough search all over the planet and be prepared to move to Duesseldorf OR
C) Join a monastery.
My hearty recommendation is choice A. The purpose of relationship (and perhaps all of life) is to practice the loving. No partner is going to be 100% perfect anyway, so learn to appreciate people for what they have to offer, not what they don’t. And love them for that. That’s what real loving is.
Nobody’s asking to lower your standards here; you should still spend time only with worthwhile company. But do question the standards to see whether they’re serving you or you’re serving them.
When you open your heart to love, you may find fulfillment in ways you never imagined possible — like the day you tried sushi or beer in spite of your trepidation, found it surprisingly alright, and expanded your personal envelope of pleasure. Taking that into consideration, given a choice between happy-go-lucky and picky-but-lonely, happy sounds like more fun.
S sent me this article on Facebook. Reading through i, I recognized a LOT of myself in the descriptions. I sent the article to my dad, and here was his response:
Haha, my dad’s so cute! I might have trouble with the being nice and sweet part though…
My 25 Things
Posted by: lavendarbliss on: March 8, 2009
As most of you know (so I jump on bandwagons late…) this ‘25 random things’ about me phenomenon had been floating around on Facebook. I got tagged a couple of times, but I didn’t really want to be exposed on the big bad world of Facebook. So instead, I’m going to be putting it on here.
1. I was delivered as a breech baby. When I came out of the womb, I had choked on amniotic fluid and couldn’t cry. My dad panicked because he thought I was retarded and started making plans to give me away. My grandma then hollered at him that even if I was retarded, I was still their child and they needed to keep me. Thankfully the doctor was able to resuscitate me and my dad calmed down. Hmm…I think my sense of direction has improved since then!
2. I worry too often that I’m not smart enough to be a good doctor.
3. I have a folder of love quotes and pictures that I’ve collected through the years and browse through occasionally. I’m a hopeless romantic.
4. I firmly believe that the reason why I’m short is because of all the damn coffee that I drank while I was at TAMS. There could be no other explanation as to why I’m 5’4 and my 15 year old brother is 5’11.
5. As much of an ‘Asian’ Asian that I am, I freak out a bit when I’m in a room full of them. Asian people can be so judgmental.
6. When I was a kid, I used to pretend that I was Storm from X-men and could control the weather with my bidding.
7. I’m not as dirty as my jokes imply.
8. Like a true Californian, my dream wedding would be on a beach. Just as long as it’s not Galveston beach..
9. You know how some people have gay-dar? I have man-whore-dar.
10. I’m a very honest and straight and narrow person; it’s probably why I can’t get along with manipulative people.
11. I really really love make-up and skin-care items, and am always looking at reviews of beauty products or beauty tutorials on the net. I’m just too cheap to buy most of the products, hah.
12. I’ve always wanted to try hip hop dancing because it just looks so fun, but I haven’t gotten around to it.
13. People always get confused over my name. I have to make sure to say,”Rose” *pause* “An”. Otherwise they just think my first name is Roseanne, and then they give me a weird look when I tell them that my last name is An, like, “Uh…Roseanne An? What kind of a name is that?”
14. I can never sleep past 10 nowadays. I usually wake up around 8 even if I have my alarm set for later. I think I’m getting old.
15. I cannot STAND the sound of styrofoam-whether it’s two pieces being rubber together, someone breaking it apart, or just anything…it grates on my nerves.
16. I’ve had people tell me that I look like Woody Allen’s adopted child-bride. I don’t take that as a compliment.
17. I have a really sharp sense of smell, and so I often smell things that other people don’t. This makes it hard for me to be near anyone with B.O.
18. My maternal instinct is totally kicking in these days…but I think that a pet would probably be a better idea at this point in my life. Too bad my apartment doesn’t allow pets.
19. I want to travel to all 6 travel-able continents in my lifetime.
20. I’m a sucker for dimples. They’re the cutest facial deformity you can have.
21. I love food and will eat just about anything but I draw the line at durians and stinky tofu. Why try to eat something that smells like rotting flesh?
22. Since I graduated from UT before I was 21, I kept on borrowing a friend’s ID to go out. I think some people were confused when I went back to Austin to celebrate my real 21st birthday.
23. I could not drink Dr. Pepper for the longest time because once when I was little, I left a can of it sitting open overnight. When I poured it out the next morning, it had cockroaches and all other sorts of bugs in it (We lived in the ghetto part of L.A. back then). It was SO gross
24. I don’t like the smell of roses or vanilla as a perfume. It reminds me of old people.
25. I forgive, but I don’t ever forget.
So the next bandwagon to jump on will be the ‘tag my friend as this character’ one that I’ve been seeing a lot of on Facebook!
A Lesson on White Chocolate
Posted by: lavendarbliss on: February 16, 2009
Last Thursday S and C had an appetizer and dessert night at their apartment. I thought it was a perfect opportunity to make these white chocolate coconut shortbread cookies that I saw on this post. I made the dough the night before, and baked them the following morning. I let them cool while I went to class, and planned to make the white chocolate frosting when I came back that afternoon. I set about melting the white chocolate my usual way, by setting a mixing bowl on top of a pot of boiling water. As the chocolate started to melt, I noticed that the consistency was really thick. After 5 more minutes went by, I finally decided to take it off and use it because it didn’t look like the consistency was going to change anytime soon. A took a look at it and told me to try to thin it out a bit more. I debated between adding milk or butter, but after googling it, decided to add a pat of butter. It did thin out a bit but not enough to my liking. However, I didn’t want to mess with it anymore, and so decided to just use it as is. Unfortunately, I couldn’t really use it as dipping chocolate since it was so thick and instead decided to just put it into a plastic bag and pipe the frosting. I pondered what design I should make on the cookies…and tried to go for hearts initially (Valentine’s spirit and all) but after making just one I decided that it was too cheesy. So here’s the result:
The one on the left is the one with the heart design. Blah, they were so unaesthetically pleasing. =( They still tasted pretty good though. I took the leftover cookies to my PBL group the next day, and they devoured them, haha.
The recipe (adapted from Technicolor Kitchen)
Toasted coconut shortbread with white chocolate icing
Cookies:
1 cup (90g) unsweetened desiccated coconut
1 ½ cups (340g/3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
¾ cup (150g) granulated sugar
1/3 cup (47g) confectioners’ sugar
1 ¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 2/3 cups (373g) all purpose flour
Icing:
100g sweetened shredded coconut
150g white chocolate, finely chopped
Preheat oven to 165ºC/325ºF. Spread desiccated coconut on rimmed baking sheet. Bake until coconut is light golden, stirring occasionally, about 6 minutes. Cool completely.
Using electric mixer, beat butter and sugars in large bowl until well blended. Mix in salt and vanilla. Beat in flour in 2 additions. Stir in toasted coconut. Gather dough together; divide in half. Roll each half into a log and wrap well in baking paper. Set in the fridge for 2 hours to firm up.
Preheat oven to 165ºC/325ºF. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
Using a sharp slender knife, slice each log into cookies about 1/3 inch (1cm) thick. Transfer cookies to prepared baking sheets, spacing 1 inch (2.5cm) apart.
Bake cookies until light golden, about 20 minutes. Cool on baking sheets 10 minutes. Transfer cookies to racks and cool completely. (Can be made ahead. Store airtight at room temperature up to 1 week.)
To make the icing: preheat oven to 165ºC/325ºF; spread shredded coconut on rimmed baking sheet. Bake until coconut is light golden, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes. Cool completely.
Melt the chocolate using a double-boiler or the microwave oven. Dip the cooled cookies in the chocolate, covering them halfway, and immediately roll the wet part into the coconut. Place on a sheet of baking paper and set aside to firm up, about 1 hour, or speed up the process by placing the cookies in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
Makes 45-50
I cut the recipe in half, because there was really no need for me to make 50 cookies. So why did I have issues with the white chocolate? A Googled it later and found out that white chocolate is the hardest type to melt. Too much heat or any contact with steam will make it “seize” or turn hard and grainy. And that explains my issues with it! Lesson learned..
S made a beautiful and delicious fruit tart that evening:
I’m so jealous of her decorating skills!
Friday night was a pre-Valentine’s party at a fellow classmate’s loft.
Notice my festive earrings? Haha..my Valentine’s was spent alone, but that’s no big surprise. *shrug* I did go to Houston to go see the BodyWorlds exhibit. In my opinion, it’s overrated. It might have been interesting for people who aren’t involved in medicine, but I knew most of the stuff (or actually more like me remembering that I learned about it at some point in time). The plastinated models were definitely interesting in a grotesque sort of way. I actually saw a lot of couples there, which surprised me-I didn’t think looking at chopped up bodies would be so many people’s idea of a romantic Valentine’s day date. So, to all the couples out there…
