La maison de mon reve

Because it actually is.

No, not really. I want a bigger one. This semester, I'm taking a 3D motion class. I know right. It's crazy for someone that used to hate motion so much because the program lagged a day before the midterm was due, wanted to take the next level of the class. 3D motion class is different though. Instead of using After Effects, I learned this cool new program that integrates the use of 3D, which is Cinema 4D. I thought learning that program would help me since I would be going on Transmedia track. I learned this before in Google Sketchup, but since I taught myself that program, I was never really good at that.

Winter Trip - New York: Part 1

I'm so glad to find out that I wouldn't have so many homework this week. I've finished up my homework for one of my Thursday classes, and another Thursday class would be a field trip, which means I pretty much don't need to turn in anything.

Well, last time, we covered two parts of Ann Arbor, but let's hold up Ann Arbor stories just for a bit because after the day we ate at the Mongolian BBQ, we were actually leaving to New York for a couple of days. Elda and I actually visited the city priorly with our own parents, but I personally never get tired to this city, especially when the city gets lit up even brighter at the end of the year due to its thick Christmas/Winter vibe.

We left in the afternoon with a taxi that took us straight to Detroit airport. We were supposed to catch a bus that would leave from Downtown Ann Arbor to Detroit Airport, but the tough weather condition made it hard to go there. The bus to Downtown Ann Arbor from Elda's apartment never came, so in order not to miss the flight, we had to go for the plan B, which is to take a taxi that would bring us straight to the airport. Yeah, the part where we had to let go a certain amount of money we had spent to book for the bus round trip was a bit painful, but at least we figured it's better than missing the flight.

Winter Trip - Ann Arbor: Part 2

OMG, so sorry for the lack of posts these days. It's just the third week of school and Thursdays, particularly, have been killing me. Imagine having 3 classes in a day, from 8 am to 10 pm, back to back. Anyway, I'm back to blogging, just to keep myself sane.

After Aymee, Ashley, and I went back from Frankenmuth, we woke up, again surprisingly, late. The day almost hit afternoon, but then we remember that we were meeting up with Elda that day. I suppose it was the day that Aymee and Elda had been waiting for, because they would finally meet up after years of not catching up with each other. The three of us had always planned to meet up during breaks, but the plan never worked out. This day proved that finally one of those plans worked out, and it was this trip that finally would bring Elda and Aymee together again.

Interconnected

So just a few weeks ago, I had a very strange dream involving my friend. I couldn't help but to tell her this. By the way, the friend I'm talking about is Aymee, who joined me and Elda in our Michigan trip. Here's an excerpt from our chatroom:

How creepy/funny/coincidental it is that we assure safety when we put each other in danger. Any dream experts could figure this out?

Forgiveness over Hatred - Philomena Review *SPOILER ALERT*

Just to take a break from writing about my winter break journey, I'm going to share my review of one of the movies I watched on the last week of the break. I got to see this movie on my own in a smaller scaled cinema, as I'm pretty sure the movie isn't considered a mainstream for people of my age (I'm convinced non of my friends are interested to see it).

If you guys aren't familiar with the movie Philomena, you should it look it up. As of now, the movie has been earning abundant accolades, particularly on Best Actress category for its leading lady, Judi Dench. Even this morning, it was announced that the movie garnered four Academy Award nominations. Anyway, it's based on a true story which was later adapted into a book by Martin Sixsmith, and later adapted into the big screen last year. The story followed an elderly woman named Philomena Lee. Having grown up without her parents, she spent her teenage years convent in Roscrea, Ireland, which literally means she was raised in a strong religious upbringing. At one point, she fell for a young man and later found herself pregnant.

Winter Trip - Frankenmuth

The day after the long walk to Boba Island, complete with our feet getting ached and soaked, Aymee planned on going to Frankenmuth. I've never heard of Frankenmuth until the day before our departure. I was unaware with what else Michigan had to offer, and that would be Frankenmuth. According to Aymee, who knew that place from Ashley who hasn't even been there either, Frankenmuth is a small German town located about 20-40 miles from Ann Arbor.

Getting there by public transportation such as buses would be possible, seeing Frankenmuth really is a small town and quite isolated too. It's not one of the big cities in Michigan, such as Detroit or Ann Arbor. Getting there would require a taxi, and that was what we were planning.

Winter Trip - Ann Arbor: Part 1

I finally made use of the last two days of the break (Gosh, I hate the countdown), writing and posting stories and pictures from my recent trip. My trip started out on December 15, 2013. Since I spent two weeks out of town, I'm just going to share some highlights instead covering each day. I was originally going to leave on the 16^th but the flight on that day was much more expensive. I assume because the closer the date was to Christmas, the more expensive the flight got. I left on Sunday night to the airport and had a chat with my school mates on Facebook before I got on to the plane.

After an overnight flight, I landed in Detroit feeling psyched, not only that I got to feel a completely different temperature and vibe from California, but also because I finally got to see snowcapped buildings and snow-covered roads, something you wouldn't be able to spot in California unless you go to Big Bear or drive a bit to the border where Lake Tahoe is. The bus Elda booked for me took off on time and I reached Ann Arbor shortly. Elda was there and we had a reunion, although we just met a couple of months before. Without further ado, Elda took me to this noodle bar – Tomukun – just a few blocks away from where my bus arrived.

Winter Breakers (a teaser to the winter trip stories)

(I make lame titles, I know)

It's been quite a 50/50 week for me as I'm currently in my last week of break. I know, I'm wiping these tears off my face. Dude, a month just went by so fast. If I could borrow Adam Sandler's remote from Click, I'd really love to so I can click rewind and go back to the moment I just finished my last finals. Well, LA feels a bit lonely these days. Some of my friends have got back to school and work since last week, some of my Art Center friends haven't even got back from their hometowns. I have some errands to run before school starts claiming me again. Good news is, I just got my car back, but I'm still currently recovering from the accident that happened to me 2 months ago, thanks to LA's hideous traffic and my clumsy driving. So I can only drive into far distances only with a company. Hopefully it's all good from now on. Why this week's been a 50/50 week for me?

Border Crossing

Warning for touchy subject matter.
I've been video editing for the past couple of hours, but the lag has been testing my patience. It's a big file, so that might explain the lag. So I'm taking a break from Adobe Premiere Pro-ing for now. I'll be getting back to it in just a second. This year, I'm determined to be a more legit writer by making more meaningful posts rather than keeping this blog as an online diary, the kind of blog in which you just post stuff you do every now and then.
I think I might have mentioned about this in a post before, about drinking, but I might approach this subject matter a little deeper.

New Year Resolution

I know it's late, but I just realized that like anyone else, I need to compose some New Year Resolutions. I can't say that these are promises, but at least these would serve me as goals and targets to accomplish this year. It'd be great if I could accomplish all of them, but at least it's the effort that counts:

I don't mean to show off or brag in this post. I just need something to keep on track with my targets, so if these resolutions somewhat strike you as bragging, I'm sorry but that's not my intention.

Flight delayed

So this post concludes my winter break trip. I'm waiting in the gate right now as the gate where I'm supposed to board the plane is still packed with the previous flight that is delayed. The previous flight that also occupied the same gate and was scheduled to leave an hour ago, was still delayed up until now. Now the gate is PACKED with passengers from my flight and from the previous flight.
It started snowing again in Michigan, and it's been snowing for 3 days in a row, ever since before the New Year. Anyway, I had a blast this break! I had the opportunity to go to Ann Arbor to visit my friend Elda, and to reunite with my old friend Aymee as well as her sister who studies in the same city.

Thank you 2013

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2014

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Wishing you a great and blessed year ahead.