celine dion is so weird, endearing and naive. i love her.

oh here we go: celine dion made it back on the headlines with some crazy batshizz stuff. given how strongly the public is reacting to the death of whitney houston, celine’s statements are bound to land her in some hot water.

but let’s be honest here: we’re all thinking the same thing. she is just saying it out loud. what’s more, she’s saying it from a perspective of a mother who’s tried very hard to conceive. naturally, seeing a mother skirt her motherly duties because of drugs is going to hit a little closer to home with her. granted, now may not have been the time to be saying it. in fact, the time would have been 10 years ago…in a private conversation with whitney herself. not now. not so soon after her death.

but it’s celine dion–she arm claps. she says the word “lurve” and actually means it. she has a workout video (not really). simply, she is the best singer in the world. remember when she cried on larry king about sending kayaks, cash, blood and… cheese whiz? i don’t think she meant any harm or offense. in fact, she seems to actually have a lot of respect for whitney:

she just got caught up in all the whitney-ness of it all. and while we all pretend to have actually had concern for whitney all these years when in fact, we all made fun of her erratic behavior, celine chose to turn something tragic into something to learn from. and if that doesn’t work, she’s french canadian. give her a break.

so now i leave you with one of whitney’s songs:

i mean, what is bigotry, really?

ok so here’s the thing: i’m about to graduate from nursing school in may. throughout the program, we have been told time and time again to be careful what we put online because it can affect us professionally. this kind of scare tactic works so well that a person in my class stresses out about posting a harmless joke because it has the word “asshole” in it. now that we’re in our last semester and getting ready to apply for jobs, people are becoming more aware of what they’re doing online and being more discrete about what they say. i agree that if it’s something frivolous and offensive, then it may not be something you should let prospective employers see. i admit, i say a lot of things that people don’t agree with but if for some reason i don’t get a job or i get fired for who i am and what i stand for, then that’s an organization i probably don’t want to be associated with anyway. there is integrity in the things i say and i won’t be scared into not voicing my opinion.

so here it goes:
bigotry is bullshit. i’m sure i could have found a less offensive or more eloquent way to express that sentiment but it really wouldn’t communicate my exact feelings about the topic. let me say it again–bigotry is bullshit. it doesn’t matter if it’s against black, hispanics, christians, muslims, frenchmen, homosexuals or anything else. i think it’s bullshit.

the idea that this kind of behavior and ideology still goes on in 2012 in America boggles my mind! that you think your opinion of how i should live my life should have any affect on how i actually live my life is completely ludicrous! this delusion that marriage equality is somehow an injustice against family values or christian values not only flies in the face of what this country prides itself on, but it flies in the face of what your religion supposedly teaches and it flies in the face of basic human decency!

now, i understand there’s always room for growth and if it’s a matter of simple ignorance or lack of understanding of other groups of people and there’s a willingness to learn and be more open-minded, please feel free to voice this. however, i unapologetically call all the other bigots and bullies out on their shit.

take a look around you. we’re making changes in the world. and no amount of hatred, violence, fear-mongering and bullying you hurl at us will make us cower under our beds and let you rule our lives. and after we win this gay equality battle, we’ll take on the next.

Below is a video of howard stern discussing the recent events of ellen degeneres and jc penney’s run-ins with one million moms, rosie o’donnell’s problem with letterman and how michele bachmann and rick santorum should be spat on and shunned. enjoy!

oh no, she dih-int: trans rights and girl scout cookies

not that i wasn’t going to buy caramel delites anyway but i’m going to make sure to buy extra (and i’ve been known to order an entire case and more) just for this. isn’t it interesting how the inclusion of minority groups automatically equals injustice against the ruling majority? isn’t it interesting that more often than not, it is trans people who are bullied, victimized, discriminated against and murdered and most people don’t even bat an eye? (more here, here, here, here, and most especially here). isn’t it interesting how the inclusion of a 7-year-old transgirl to the girl scouts is a threat to the safety of a 14-year-old teenaged girl? this little girl and the parents who put her up to this should realize that whatever you put on the internet stays on the internet. she’s on the losing side of this battle and it will be to her detriment when she starts looking for opportunities in a few years and people will remember this act of bigotry. and even then, she will only experience a fraction of what the trans people have to go through.

image source

if you clicked on the “most especially here” link and watched the video, this one should tug at your heartstrings.

some of my make-up looks of 2011

my make-up collection (and obsession) grew significantly in 2011. beginning last christmas when i got my sigma brush roll set to cheer me up after a horrible semester and my sephora train case from my boyfriend, i was on my way to growing my collection. during the summer, i also got the ikea malm dressing table to use as a vanity. because of school, i couldn’t do a lot of make-up gigs but the ones that i did do, i was happy with. in fact, last christmas eve, i did hair and make-up for almost 5-6 hours straight.

i wish i had more time to practice but i’ve gotten to know the structures of my face (it’s still growing, apparently) better than i have before so i thought i should post my top 3 make-up looks of 2011:

natural and glowing:

i wore this look for my friend’s graduation party. when dressing up, i’m known for wearing stronger looks with false eyelashes and lots of hair extensions. i was able to achieve this look without the use of either so i was quite proud. for the face, i used mac’s face and body foundation, some of their bronzey and gold shadows and their bronzer. i also used nars blush in orgasm. for my lashes, my favorite mascara is lancome’s waterproof hypnose. my favorite part about this look is the eyebrows. i do love a strong brow.

christmas red lips

during the semester, i pretty much wore sweats or scrubs so when winter break hit, i was determined to get some mileage out of my collection. for an entire week, i was obsessed with doing a red lip and decided that to be the focus of my look for a christmas eve party. i used mac red on my lips with a nyx lipliner. i kept my eyes simple using neutral browns from my mac and inglot palettes and a black cream liner using mac’s fluidline. i tried to keep the cheeks as bare as i could so i used mac’s oh so fair blush from their venomous villains collection. i almost never put my hair up but decided to go for it and try this simple up-do i saw on pinterest. (i was in a hurry and couldn’t perfect it so it didn’t last the entire evening but i did get a compliment from the lady at spec’s)

new year’s sparkle

for the last make-up look of the year, i decided that i wanted to look like my make-up collection threw up in my face (yeah, i said it) so this look was inspired by pixiwoo’s holiday tutorial but kicked up a notch. i used an inglot green as the base shadow but added an inglot navy blue for my crease. like the tutorial, i used mac’s relfects transparent teal that i got in a sample from make-up geek on the eyes. i used an urban decay 24/7 liner in stash to line the eyes. i contoured the heck out of my face like i was getting ready to lip-sync for my motherf*&#$^g life using a bourjois bronzer that i got from ASOS (i’m pretty bummed that sephora stopped carrying bourjois). for the lips, i used mac’s viva glam II. oh and the hair–it’s a wig. i love it! (oh yeah, pixiwoo and manila luzon gave me a compliment on this look on twitter so i was pretty excited about that)

looks like it’s gonna rain again

i heard a song i’d never heard of for the first time last night and i’m super excited!

one word i keep using to describe this song is “sexy.” it’s just so sexy. it’s almost as sexy as annie lennox’s money can’t buy it.

gossip reminds me a little bit of one of my all-time favorite bands, alphabeat. so i tweeted to both of them that they should do a collaboration and alphabeat replied to me. this made my week!

not a destination

i just feel so lost lately. actually, i started to feel lost when i started nursing school. the past year and a half has been really tough on me. it’s been blow after blow to my self-esteem and i can’t figure out why it is that i can’t do as well as i know i can. what happened? i just got so good at faking being fine and then falling apart occasionally, picking up enough pieces just so i can manage to more forward. every little thing gets to me. i think back to when i quit my job, went back to school and moved out on my own. i was so much stronger, so much more courageous, so much more clear about my future. and now i’m just struggling with my life, my relationship with gibius, my family, his family, my friends, where i’m headed and always always struggling with where i’ve been. i hold everything in and it’s too much at times.

reading about a little bit about cat stevens and listening to this song has been inspirational. it at least gives me something to look forward to… a reflection of where i was headed before, where i want to be headed now.

Protected: fires, mirrors and congreve cubes

This content is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password:

one bad yelper spoils the bunch

it’s not really just one but it’s because of reviewers like this guy who fancies himself a critic more than a consumer that ruins yelp for me. i always forget that yelp is just a community of people whose reviews are based on their own personal preferences without trying to be objective.

in other words, they’re more opinions rather than evaluations. it’s the same reason i don’t ask people for fashion or hair advice. the truth is, most people don’t have a clear vision of how they want to look, much less how to execute that. how can i trust them to tell me what is appropriate for enhancing my personal style when they can’t even determine theirs? i should always keep the same attitude about yelpers. while reading reviews is useful, the most trustworthy opinions are the ones you form yourself from firsthand experiences.

 

and by the way, i happen to love mambo’s seafood on hillcroft.

How important are grades to you? (via a life review)

i feel this way about school all the time. grades are very disillusioning a lot of times.

an article for Meld Magazine. Thanks to Karen Poh for editing it! 🙂 Marcella Purnama discovers grades aren't the best measure of success. THE first time I discovered grades ruled my life was when I was preparing my high school graduation speech. I came across American student Erica Goldson’s words, which struck a deep chord in me. She said in her valedictorian speech: “I have successfully shown that I was the best slave. I did what I was told to … Read More

via a life review

this is technically playing soccer for mls, right?

so because boyfriend was unfairly terminated from his job for getting surgery (thanks a lot, houston zoo), he took another job a month ago. he is one of three tour coordinators for mls futbolito, a soccer tournament that travels across the country for the summer (from what i can tell, the three coordinators are basically in charge of making the entire thing run smoothly but don’t quote me on that). i wasn’t too keen on him being away for an entire summer but it’s good work experience for him. anyway, one of the stops is houston which brings me to my next point: the tournament is going to be here next week!

the following is from the futbolito website:

As the official 4 v 4 tournament of Major League Soccer, MLS ¡Futbolito! brings fast-paced soccer action to 8 communities across the country. The day-long event offers food, music and fun activities for the whole family, all alongside a fierce and fun soccer competition for all ages. Sign your team up today, and we’ll see you on the field!

it’s free if you just want to watch but there’s a fee to sign up a team. if you’re interested at all or want more information, the mls futbolito website has an faq section. if you have a question that’s not on there, maybe you can hit me up and i’ll annoy boyfriend about it. it gives me a reason to blow up his cell phone.

(mls ¡futbolito! in spanish)