A conversation with my friend living in South Korea reminded me of what happened last 5 April 2009.

My family and I were in Hong Kong when I first found out about North Korea’s launch of a rocket believed to be Taepo Dong-2. It was morning at HK and I suddenly felt fear. Taepo Dong-2 is a long-range ballistic missile, designed to reach as far as Alaska and parts of Hawaii, developed by the N. Koreans over the years. It’s first launch test, which failed after less than a minute, occurred last 2006. This month’s test was successful and crashed at the Pacific Ocean, near Japan, after traveling 1900 miles or 3100 km as planned

The development of Korea's missile technology.

The launch caused an uproar and an emergency meeting was made among fifteen countries (China, Russia, Japan, among others). The US said the event was “provocative” and S. Korea deemed it “reckless.” Notably, China, Japan, and the Soviet issued milder and safe statements. Other countries, like the three, agreed that there was no immediate danger. Bullshit though. Personally, I think they were being safe, a win-win situation. Russia has ongoing trades with N.Korea and China is concerned over their north borders (which already attracts refugees from N. Korea; feared to attract more refugees in case of a war).

N. Korea issued a statement that the purpose of the launch was to place a civilian satellite into orbit. However, it was not determined whether there was a satellite in the rocket. If there was, the satellite never made it into orbit.

How the nuclear missile works.

What makes this so bad? North Korea has a rich history involving nuclear weapons. They have refused, repeatedly, to agree withdrawal of the development, test, and use of missile technology.

Second, they have one of the largest armies with their government budget dedicated mostly to the military at the expense of the people. Malnutrition, food scarcity, and poor living conditions are prevalent in the country. Many refugees are seeking help outside from China, only to be tricked into forced slavery or prostitution. God, feed your people. The UN intervened once in 1995. Up until now, S. Korea still sends food ration to the N. Korea.

The peerlessly great man of North Korea.

Next is the propaganda. They have limited access to outside news–TV, internet, or radio. Check out their news website here. To make it easy to find the funny posts, you may check out this site. The above illustration are excerpts and titles of actual news from North Korea, lauding Kim II Sung and Kim II Jong, the former and current Presidents respectively, as “the peerlessly great man of North Korea.” (Try googling “peerlessly great man poem/song/ode.”)

Maybe Gloria should do the same. Hmm.

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo - The Peerlessly Great Woman.

Illustrations come from Time Magazine (Graphics and Gallery.)

One of my guilty pleasures (and annoyances) is purchasing those must-have make-up. Who can resist a product with loads of rave reviews promising that said product is a holy grail? That it brightens up the face and yet looks natural? I certainly can’t.

Fortunately, I only go for the natural look make-up. I use powder and blush, minimizing my expenses. I’ve been drooling over a lot of stuff reviewed at MakeupAlley.com and while I was waiting for my friends to arrive, I had the chance to check them out. I visited Rustan’s to check if they have stocks of T. Le Clerc Loose Powder in Banane.

T. Le Clerc Loose Powder in Banane

Last time I visited Rustan’s, the color was unavailable. This is their best-selling product, with the hype extending in all kinds of media–print or internet. I was swayed by the reviews and disappointed that the color was unavailable. I decided to settle for the other shade, Translucide.

A very big mistake! Now that it’s here (and the stocks sell up fast), I was torn between purchasing another loose powder when I’ve barely even used my current one. To console myself, I asked the assistant to put it on me.

It was definitely better than Translucide. The loose powder in Banane made my complexion matte and flawless. There were two choices: the compact form (7g) and the refill can (37g). I wanted both. I decided to immediately leave the shop… but came back to purchase the refill anyway! Crazy, haha.

Nars in Orgasm

When I came back to purchase the powder, I checked out the blush section. I’ve been hearing good things about the blush Nars in Orgasm. Most make-up artists, my peers, and the reviewers rave about the blush. It’s a soft peachy-pink color that gives you that after-glow instead of a flush. I tried it on and, wow, the color looked pretty. I left the store, not wanting to make another purchase.

I came back right after, of course. And bought the damn thing. I reasoned to myself that it’s hard to find such a pretty-looking peachy-pink blush (that lasts). My previous one was Shiseido in Tangerine Mandarine, which I discontinued using after a year. (I’m very paranoid about germs accumulating in make-up.)

Benefit Benetint

The thing about it is that I just bought Benefit Benetint. I’m a lazy make-up person–I don’t want retouches. This is why I absolutely love tints and Benefit’s arguably the best out there. The color is natural and long-lasting.  No one sells it here at the Philippines and so when I saw a Sephora store at HongKong, I jumped to the chance and bought the damn thing. Just this April too.

Now, I’m stuck with two blushes and two loose powders. I don’t know how I’d ever finish the four; hopefully, I won’t see another product that I must try.

After a day of wearing the two, I still look fresh with that glow. Admittedly, I felt my face itch after puting the loose powder; although, I don’t think it’s because of the powder itself. I encountered a similar problem with Translucide and found out that my face itches when I sweat immediately after putting the powder.

The tint also lasts all day. I’m satisfied with the results, but it’s still too early to tell! I’m not the one that’s supposed to be wowed but other people as well! If it doesn’t work, then how can it be nice and worth the price?

For all I know, I could have been brainwashed by all those reviews! I’ll find out if it is certainly ‘HG’ status.

UPDATE:

The Banane powder does the dreaded volcanic effect! If I’m not too careful, I could end up spilling a lot of powder. It’s impossible to bring. I hate this tin can, but it’s cute. (There’s a reason why they called it the refill can…)

My Translucide one was in a limited edition can (10g), as I’ve found out. It looks different and it doesnt spill any powder. I can bring it anywhere, make it roll over. Grr. Everytime I see a powder wasted, my heart becomes heavier.

I’m starting to think that this is a marketing tactic. The can’s impossible to bring anywhere without any powder spilling. T. Le Clerc wants us to buy that ridiculously expensive compact case with less powder and a steeper price!

Grrr. Haha.

Over the year after I’ve left the university, I noticed something that occurs simultaneously with graduation. All of a sudden, all the golden long-term couples are breaking up. The reasons vary: jobs, personality differences, cold feet, etc. I was always surprised and curious whenever I heard such news. After a year chock full of break-up gossip, the novelty wore off. I can only conclude that graduation is indeed the break-up season.

I attended a seminar about dating and marriage, which was required for my Theology class. Most people were scoffing over it and I pretended to scoff along. I didn’t want anyone to think I’m interested in a self-help dating seminar. Secretly though, I was curious what the speaker has to say.

I've been dating... now what?

There were two rules:

1. If you’re single: collect, collect, and then select.

This one’s not too bad. Date around, yeah.

2. If you’re taken, break-up. Then do number 1.

Omgwtfbbqlolnubcopterbye?

Imagine the aghast and shocked expressions of everyone in the room. Okay, sure, there were other rules that I don’t remember anymore. Not so important though; these two stood out.

The speaker Maribel Dionisio anticipated everyone’s reaction and just smiled. She proceed to explain that college teenager relationships don’t last. By the time we graduate, she said, we’d outgrow each other and would go on on our own ways.

Some were staunch defenders. Jesuit education brainwashed us to believe that love is not just a feeling but implies a commitment. From Scott Peck’s ‘The Road less Traveled,‘ love is “the will to extend onself for the purpose of nurturing one’s own or another’s spiritual growth… The person who truly loves does so because of decision to love.”

The Scott Peck equation: ALT-F4 != Love

In retrospect, the speaker had good intentions. We’re young and most are not yet aware of what we want in life. Only one’s meant to be THE ONE while the rest are meant to be your exes.

Graduation changed a lot of people. I’ve heard some of my batch mates becoming wilder while others settled and became a one-man-woman. Some chose to leave the country. Some chose to follow their significant others to that country.

It’s sad that to hear that people choose to end their relationship. It makes me wonder: how different are they? What did they fight about? What can two people in college fight about that’s so important anyway? I can’t think of anything so great that it requires breaking up. It’s just the dating part; marriage would bring more problems with greater gravity.

Unless of course you never really loved each other in the first place.

Perhaps the speaker was right after all.

Not too long ago, I posted a link at my Facebook account about the extraordinary shit amount of quizzes, notes, and emo statuses I receive in my news feed. I hate it. Spare me the drama! Putting emo messages “I’m crying so bad” won’t make you happy. If you’re so fucking sad, what are you doing typing in front of the computer?

So, in a nutshell, it’s useless to be emo. However, I heard about this interesting article that makes me reconsider the benefits of what all the emo person can bring in the world.

Yes, you in the black clothes, wearing black eye-liner, with long bangs covering your face. You think your life sucks. But in this recession, you make one clothing brand happier and more profitable! Yes! Someone loves you! Be more pessimistic and they’ll love you more!

Hot Topic Inc. Lady Amaranth.

Hot Topic is an apparel retailer focused on goth clothing and lip-piercing paraphernalia. While the “credit-strapped suburban mall culture” sucks so bad right now, this company stood out so much—with its incredible and growing profits—that it received a special mention in AgoraFinancial’s newsletter.

No one wants fashion this recession. The worsening economy changed consumers’ buying behavior. On the other hand, emos remain unaffected. They are already depressed and pessimistic in the first place! Fuck the world, fuck everything. The recession is already expected, the whole goddamn world sucks, and humanity has it coming.

They’ll buy more clothes and they won’t care!

Who knew all that pessimism would hatch unexpected happiness and profits in the world? Emos are an unlimited resources, man. Economic smarts tell me to use them to full effect.

I am currently fixing the layout. Thinking of how the links, header, etc would go. Need more time to refresh CSS knowledge and look how WordPress works.

I’m in a bit of data paralysis, at the moment. Photoshop and all. Will fix this soon.

Bai bai.

I think I’m done. I’ll just be testing a few things. But for the most part, yeah! I can most without thinking too much about the design! Send me a line if anything looks horribly wrong.