Hiding

Foolhardy

Escaping reality

Concealing truths

Repressing pain

Losing faith

Fading

Fearing the inevitable
Aching for redemption
Reaching out for comfort

5 months and 8 days later

in May, I'd written about how I'd started another skin maintenance regimen using Proactiv Solution...  A desperate time called for a desperate measure when my body didn't respond as well as I'd liked from re-acclimatizing to the US after having spent an extended Christmas break in the Philippines.

 -- I wrote about that here and clearly failed to write much else about it --

5 months have passed since then, if I counted right. My skin has been relatively "clearer" for the past month or so thanks to a much-needed visit to Kate Somerville, as per my sister's request, and my almost-religious use of the Proactiv Solution system thinger majigger.

I'm really quite pleased with myself.

My immune system crashed when I returned to LA in February and I got sick to the point that my whole body was disoriented and my hormones must have gone all sorts of ways causing a massive breakout and relapse of acne that regular cheaper dermatologist visits in Manila helped to clear up


I meant to keep this on my tumblr page and it may seem a bit of an overstep considering I've kept the content of my tumblr as far away from my personal life as possible but more and more often the people I seem to be following and/or the people following me tend to make use of their own tumblr as an outlet for their personal rants and raves.

There's a part of me that wants get more personal there and to hopefully shed some light on people as a reminder that behind all the posts, likes, reblogs, creative tumblr handles/URLs, we're all normal people and perhaps some days, I also want to share my triumphs and maybe even failures just as some people have done.

My copying and pasting this here should be enough indication that I ultimately decided against it, maybe in time I'll grow more acquainted with certain people but yessss I hope I don't end up jinxing the progress of my skincare.

♫ Eargasms

I have been bumping to this all day but I feel so disappointed in myself for not knowing about this dj sooner. hanging my head in shame.

MUNK is a group formed by Italian-German dj Mathias Modico and my mind is just being blown:

La Musica

La musica 
divertente 
la gente sorridente 
le ragazze 
al dente 
il DJ stupefacente!

holy writers block batman!

...my prose has gone down the shitter.

#redcardhomophobia

the ONTD_Football livejournal community has recently banded together in an effort to rid football/soccer of prejudice towards homosexual futbolistas.

a single livejournal post has literally called for even more social media outlets to spread awareness:

• on livejournal
• on facebook
• on wordpress
• on twitter

members have been encouraged to get the word out and to also contribute their own ideas as to how to do so off the internet. i'm personally awestruck with how creatively proactive people can be:

and i personally think shirts like this ought to produced. fast.

in the past few days since the community's brainchild has been born, more and more football fans have submitted photos of themselves in their favorite team jerseys holding placards expressing their disdain for homophobia prevalent not just among clubs and national teams but also among their fans.

seeing as the past week has been alight with EPL, La Liga, Champions League, and Europa League matches among others, RedCardHomophobia is also fast becoming a staple on twitter, as moderators continue to encourage using the #redcardhomophobia hashtag in futbol-related tweets.

here's to the continued growth of this effort to put an end to homophobia in the beautiful game.

mich araullo

proper words can't possibly describe how proud I am of Mich, an old grade school friend. she's always had an eye for pretty things and was one of the more girly-girls back in the day, little did i know her passion would take her this far and so quickly.

i unfortunately won't be seeing her new collection until i return home for the holidays but this video will have to suffice until then.

individual photos of featured pieces here. can't wait to invest in more mich araullo designs!

audio track is CRAVE YOU by Flights Facilities (feat. Giselle). have a listen here.

一つだけ願いあるんだ：

家に帰りたいんだ。。。

friends and fashion

where is it written that friends have to dress alike?

doesn't a friendship consist of total understanding and acceptance of each other? shouldn't people be comfortable enough with one another to feel confident in sticking to their own individual styles?

or are photos i see of people on certain social networking sites just photos of people who really just haven't grown into their own identities yet?

i'm a nonconformist by nature, and complacency is not written on my to-do list but that's not to say i like to force that on other people... it would be the biggest hypocrisy. what i would like to see, however, is more people being comfortable in their skin or choice of clothes.

where's the fun in growing up if you keep restraints on yourself?

random thought

What I love most about flying back home to Manila, more often than not, are the stopovers.

Can you blame me? our international airport is the very epitome of disrepair. an architectural representation of the state of our country if you will. when you arrive, it's like you've been caught in a time warp into the 60s...

the worst thing about it isn't even the fact that it's very badly maintained but the fact that we have 2 other newer seemingly efficient airports. 1 of which is used solely for Philippine Airlines flights -- reasonable -- and the other, i don't even know what the hell it's being used for but the government spent a couple million billion pesos or dollars to build it so it needs to be put to better use before it erodes.

back to my point:

What I love most about flying home to Manila besides actually going home are the stopovers. 

I've had recent stopovers in Tokyo and Taipei.
I have yet to make stops at Incheon or Honolulu or Guam.

there's a sweet unexplainable sensation in layovers. as if you're stuck in limbo, suspended animation, until you reach your destination - mentally and physically.

I usually take full advantage of the time I have to explore the airport, eat the food, and use the wifi (which only really actually applies to Taoyuan. Narita doesn't offer free wifi)  and make smalltalk with people who clearly have been itching to be home as well.

The very prospect of being home again makes my insides all tingly and warm.

I can't wait until I step out of the airport doors to be enveloped by the humid Philippine air and until the moment I'm caught in my dad's embrace.

wow i feel like shit

there's nothing like a random conversation with a good friend to put things into perspective.

not enough haircare but i try

i've learned the hard way that it's never a good idea to entrust your hair to a female hairstylist. it just doesn't work that way. women are better off getting their hair styled by gay men or seemingly more metrosexual-than-usual japanese men.

the last haircut i had was in january before i'd left manila to return to los angeles. since then, i've made two or three attempts to trim my own bangs and to color my hair black which eventually faded to a purple mahogany to just brown and brassy.

mid-august i finally decided to get a haircut. i figured i needed to with the beginning of a new semester looming and the prospect of meeting would-be employers. made my way out to a japanese hair salon here in west la and left with my head feeling lighter.

hair by Taiga-san

day after

goodbye brassy tips (for now)

unfortunately, i didn't have the time or money to get my hair professionally colored where i got the haircut that this week i decided i'd do the color myself. unknowingly, i purchased hair color meant for gray hairs. all the better, it worked perfectly. and now i have a natural colored head of hair.

never underestimate the power of japanese beauty products. 

now i just need a hot oil treatment. or several.