Saturday, December 28, 2013

Denim X OMQ: Supposed It's Quite Few

final loot

before leaving Taipei

at the Old Master Q

50th anniversary exhibition

 

a tote bag

it was a bit pricey actually

for the price of a cotton tote

Old Master Q 老夫子 tote bag

Old Master Q 老夫子 tote bag

 

and it's not at so huge after all

but it's a special edition

I wouldn't say limited edition

 

although indeed the stock is

quite limited

mine is actually the final piece

the displayed item

 

was pondering between this

and another set of

Old Master Q X The Beatles tee shirts

Playing around with

"The Abbey Road", "Hope" and etc

老夫子 X The Beatles tee shirts

 

finally took the bag

instead of the tee because

i don't know

cartoon tees of mine are

overflowing the wardrobe

 

actually just fitting everything in

quite compact

 

And I finally found some

really nice notebooks for my niece

and a Cattish friend of mine

Friday, December 27, 2013

沿著地圖 X 放慢速度:台北漫步

不得不喜歡臺北的原因之一:

這是個很適合

在早晨四處溜達的城市

 

我其實早上回來

寫了好一大塊

結果APP掛掉了

全部沒了

 

長話短說,狀況如下:

旅友每天起得比較晚

哇塞 今天過12點才醒

我不能坐以待斃

所以一早就自個兒出去溜達

 

從繁忙的捷運站

到香火鼎盛的廟宇

轉到相對空蕩蕩的花博公園

最後再到超市買些什么

 

好飽滿的早上

走得身子都暖起來了

一點都不冷耶

 

而且我發現大清早

都不下雨 甚至有一點點陽光

到了中午 陰晴不定

甚至細雨連綿一整天

浪費早晨的時光 多可惜

 

剛查到後面的大街

有一間「永和豆漿大王」

好的 明天報到

圓山 大龍街臺北故事館 Taipei Story House臺北花博公園臺北行天宮臺北漫步

Rollicking X with My Monster Sling: Boxing Day, Like a Boss

what a Boxing Day

which was split into 4 parts

 

(a) religious/cultural

early morning

while my travel mate is still sleeping

I went to explore two famous landmark

which is the Confucius temple and

another old temple nearby

臺北孔廟&大龍峒保安宮

Confucius Temple, Taipei 臺北孔廟大龍峒保安宮

 

(b) cultural/historical

visited the Palace Museum

ensued by C.K.S. Memorial Hall

臺北故宮博物院 & 中正紀念堂

Taipei Palace Museum 臺北故宮博物院C.K.S. Memorial Hall 中正紀念堂

 

(c) calories-collecting

it was almost 5 by the time

we left the memorial hall

super hungry after the long walk

and the nearest place

I could think of is XiMenDing 西門町

P1260343

 

Let's go, folk

(a) half of Hot Star chicken cutlet 豪大大雞扒

(b) Ay-Zung rice flour noodle 阿宗麵線

(c) Han Lin bubble tea 翰林茶館珍奶

 

"the proclaimed-inventor of bubble tea"

they actually went to the court

with another similar outlet for

the copyright of bubble tea

so bubble tea actually originated from

a classy place like this

P1260585

 

FYI

I had an extra large cup

all by myself

P1260569

 

my travel mate went on to eat

(d) spring roll ice cream wrap

(e) Sushi Express sashimi

*salute*

 

so in between the digestion time

we gotta walk right

to burn the calories and

to empty out tummy space for her Sashimi

which I have not tasted a single piece

all my life

Sushi Express

 

and here came the trap

we ended up in the toy store

which I kind of place

an item on my KIV list

toy store, Taipei

 

okies let's get it

since I don't see this somewhere else

although merchandise of the Monsters

are everywhere on the street

 

yet this is not one of them

Monster Mike bag

it double acts as a sling bag

Or a backpack

adult size but of course

it's a children-friendly size

 

we continued on

while my travel mate go

look for her KIV-ed stuff at Uniqlo

Uniqlo 西門町

 

it's a plain cardigan for her dad

unfortunately we searched

high & low

and went from one level to another

which landed us at Level 4

 

Then I was like:

Hey ABC mart is just

One level up

Let's go

 

ABC is a sneaker chain store

originated from Japan

with all the major brands

you name it

ABC-Mart

 

with loads good deal

good deals at ABC-Mart

 

this is the 4th of their stores

We enter, I think

And shopping is a contagious thing

both of us found something

we really like, so finally

at different end of the shop

 

We belong to the different camps

Hers is always red Converse

while mine is Vans in blue

 

So she ended up with with

A pair of Jack Purcell

In this dirty dark red shade

In mandarin we call it 豬肝紅

Literally translated as

"Pig Liver Red"

Jack Purcell

 

while me

still hesitating over this

really cute pair of

Classic Skool Hi in navy blue

Classic Skool Hi in navy blue

 

My concerns

(a) it's too Converse like

With the patch of white in front

(b) the red shoe laces are disturbing

(c) it's too cute, ie childish

(d) I still have this pair of

New-in-the-box Vans Oxfies

 

But hey look

(a) it's a crossover

(b) on top of the 50% off

(c) isn't foldable canvas something

I always wanted for

(d) the red shoe laces can be

Easily-got-ridden of

 

So I ended up

with this pair of

rollicking X Vans which was

the cutest ever pair so far

 

I actually found out

Rollicking is a proper word

which means lively

 

but this particular RollicKing

is a niche Japanese brand which

specializes in vintage fashion

so this is a Japanese edition after all

 

the walk wasn't sufficient yet

to burn the calories

we walked on across the road

to a chain boutique

Which is known as 50%

Fifty Percent

 

50% Basically

they label all their products as

The market price: xxx

50% off price: half of xxx

 

we walked all the way up

to level 4

since that's where the men's section is

and she wanted to grab something

for the bro

 

and I ended up falling for

another piece of man's clothes

androgynous is just so in me

 

Isn't it cute?

A like-a-boss mustache gentleman

Pullover knitwear top 

mens' shirts are too tempting

 

I know I know

I am not supposed to shop

budget for the year is exhausted

 

even before stepping into Taipei

I foresee the unexpected conditions

so I have declared that

any extra spending would

be dumped into FY 2014

 

and hey it's Christmas

So these are considered

gifts from Santa for..

for whatever bad things

I didn't commit

 

looks hey Loots

Monster Inc Mike backpack

50% like a boss pullover knitwer sweaterVans X Rollicking Classic Skool Hi in navy blue

 

p.s.

definitely looks better with white laces

Vans X Rollicking Classic Skool Hi in navy blue

 

this is too child friendly

my niece fell for it and

this is now hers

one and only time

Thursday, December 26, 2013

其實想 X 漫步雨街: 好一個吐槽結

大概這次行程有點長
其實五天剛剛好
有點不自在了

起源於一把雨傘
台北就一直下雨嘛
毛毛細雨 也不太冷
其實漫步雨中
感覺還不錯的

但我的旅友沒帶傘
就戴了頂帽子
走在雨中當然會濕啊

所以雖然我有意繼續走
也不好意思
所以只好折返

忍不住問起
幹嘛你不買把傘
或跟宿舍借一把吧

她的回答讓我奔潰了:
我不喜歡用傘

所以回程就面黒黑的
然後她竟然換了睡衣
拿著遙控器
坐在沙發上

才下午四點而已
結果我也不管那樣多了
就自己出去了

本想附近孔廟和保安宮
走走就回來
怎知恰巧一個
大連的女生也要出去

所以我們就結伴同行了
走了六個小時
還算歡快

我的旅友
幸好她也自己出門了
所以也沒太責怪
況且我也給她發短信了

但兩個一起旅行的人
結果各走各的
場面有點尷尬

還有一點就是
節奏的不同
搞得我頭疼呢

她半夜想起來追足球賽
那是她個人自由
但搞到六點才睡

結果每天十一點後才起床
導致我們十二點後出門
真的有點說不過去吧

我算是早起動物
十二點大概
也逛完一個景點
準備去吃午飯去了

真的 節奏都被打亂了
現在十二點也是去吃飯
不過是 brunch 

看到特別精緻的廟宇
想進去參觀
也因為宗教差異的因素
而自己止步了
繼續往前走

想到故宮博物院
花個大半天
慢慢賞閱一件件珍品
大概看不懂中文
更不明白故宮文化的旅友
會覺得這樣超無聊的

此時此刻
她帶著耳機
看韓劇 
笑得嘻嘻哈哈
挺歡樂的

我戴著耳機
收聽著電台
寫著一些嚴肅的文字

咱們河水不犯井水

同房異夢
莫過如此

Monday, December 23, 2013

歡度佳節 X 真的不是我不屑: 聖誕結

以為換一個

溫度比較低的城市過聖誕

氣氛會比較好一些

 

但原來我倒想念

床邊讀了一半的偵探小說

還有那只髒兮兮的唷夕恐龍

我不在 他可會想念我

 

大概我這個人

生下來就和節日相沖

根本不適合過甚麼節日

 

生日農曆新年情人節聖誕節

漏了哪些節日啊?

反正就沒有甚麼特別期待

或者曾經過得特難忘的節日

 

這樣倒好

365個日子

節日的比例大概不比

非節日來得多

 

沒期待 哪來失望呢?

沒有甚麼不好過的地方

 

難忘的事

往往都是那些亂七八糟的事

你這個賤人

 

所以我喜歡寫遊記

提醒自己

曾經看過的最美風景

 

節日絕緣體

回到山上

好好過你的小日子吧

 

沙漠的駱駝

可能一直羨慕北極熊

在雪白世界的風景

 

但它知道那是一個

它永遠到不了的地方

 

況且就算沙漠對它有多麼惡劣

要它一離開酷熱的沙漠

它就會死掉

Friday, December 20, 2013

Curtain Call 2013: Spec-tacular

on top of the spec, i got a haircut too

 

got myself a new pair of specs

after being pressurized by mom

because she thinks it’s bad to wear

contact lens for long hour, who isn’t

 

and we are those who wear

because we don’t really have a choice

but of course there are another group

with perfectly good eye-sight

who choose to wear colour lens

for aesthetic purpose

 

going for Ray-ban

probably because I was pretty impressed with

the Never-Hide ad series

Ray-Ban non-glossy frame

 

I told the optician

I want a no-frill all black frame

and she quickly narrowed it down to

Ray-Ban and Lee Cooper

 

Lee Cooper had a pretty “eye-catching” campaign

featuring Union Jack flag and

other vintage elements such as

double-deckered bus, Mini Cooper etc

 

anyway ad campaign is not the

sole determinant when it comes to

picking a right frame

 

but it seems that

the range of frames both have

are pretty close in terms of design

and quality too, according to the optician

however in terms of price

Ray-Ban is of course higher

 

in fact since the first pair of frame

was shown to me

until narrowing down to

the final “candidates”

 

the optician kept pushing Lee Cooper

I guess probably because

the profit margin is better

 

decision had been secretly made that

I want a Ray-Ban because

Ray-Ban equals to eyewear 

while any other brands like Lee Cooper

produce everything from

canvas shoes to tote bags

 

but I went on really slow

as if I am having a tough time

making up my mind

 

it’s a game of psychology

I learn from bargaining game

if you in the first place

show great interest towards a

particular items

 

then it’s less likely that

the seller will offer as much discount

as he/she can

since you are going to take it anyway

 

this is not a two-dollar frame

from road-side stall for play

making a good bargain counts

but I am real bad at oral bargaining

so… I hope this hesitating process helps

 

or maybe she would start sympathizing

poor kid.. wanting a Ray-Ban so badly

but couldn’t afford

 

alright

so I ended up with a pair of new spec

 

it’s non-glossy frame

which my mom was like:

it looks worn

glossy frame looks more lively

 

well she says the same thing

for everything of mine in

suede, chambray, straw colour

 

for a person suffering from

severe short-sightedness and astigmatism

the lists of taboo while wearing contact lens

are emerging fast as

the patient grows older in age

 

direct sunlight, no!

air pollution & haze, no!

exposure to different sources of light

during night time, no!

 

okay fine

stay indoor then, yet

dryness in air-con room, another no!

 

long live my precious eyesight

new year resolution:

kill the habit of reading in bed

wear more glasses if I can

take good care of my new specs

 

I am that kind of person

who wake up asking:

where did I leave my specs last night

 

oh here you are

right under the pillow

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Curtain Call 2013: Stephy-Selfie

Mar

fat

 

July

fatter

 

Oct

even fatter

 

the fattest is yet to come…

Curtain Call 2013: FavAlbums of the Year

dedicated to Summer

the journey to rule

the sea vs the stage

they rein, in their own ways

Jack Johnson - From Here to Now to Youkaty-perry-prism

 

dedicated to Fall

the journey of self-growth

蘇打綠_秋:故事曲婉婷 Say the Words 我為你歌唱

 

dedicated to Winter

the journey through the World

coldness makes your mind sober

藍奕邦 優與美陳綺貞 時間的歌

 

dedicated to the long days and nights

the lonely self-talks 

陳珊妮 低調人生蔡健雅 天使與魔鬼的對話

 

dedicated to the “eightiesan”

the journey through Renaissance

who said cantopop and mandopop are dying out?

who said pop idols are the only survivors?

who said singing contestants will never

make it with their own music?

C AllStar Cantoposibility林宥嘉 神游

 

dedicated to the only drama

I watched this year

its songs which I loop

long after the “dramarathon”

蘭陵王 電視原聲帶 OST

 

way forward 2014

Yoga Lin

Juno Mak

Khalil Fong

Jason Mraz

RubberBand

Curtain Call 2013: Shopping Sheet

Shopping Trips

Jan 2013:

More KIV X Insider's Tips: First of 2013

 

Feb 2013:

Chambray Fever X Hyper Tribal: The Hunt’s Over

 

Mar 2013:

Here X There: Buying, Where?

Tour MisPresence X Weak Resistance: New & Balanced

 

July 2013:

Tribal X Naval: Out from Social Withdrawal

 

Oct 2013:

Accidentally Ahem.. X Walking into H&M: Ended Up Looting’em

PromoCode Offer X Cant Get Clumsier: Double Order at Quiksilver

Long Bought X Almost Forgotten: Batches of Loots, Unreported

 

Dec 2013:

Nauti X Monkey: Pair of Sweaters for Me

Items Purchased

Category Total purchase Description
Dress 6 tribal print
chambray
LBD
royal blue mullet
black jumper dress
nautical stripes
Shirt 2 Peanuts UT (gift) X 2
cropped blue
tribal tee (gift)
cropped black slogan
tank 3 beach essentials
grey tribal pink
white spag top
Top
(Other)
5 plain white Oxfie
navy blue jumper
grey cardie
nautical jumper x 2
Shorts 3 tribal print
baby blue
blue plaid
Shoes 2 tribal canvas
black flats
Sneakers 2 NB u420
Vans Oxfie
Flip flops 1 tribal black
Bags 2 QS duffle
QS backpack

 

Summary of Performance

way less compared to 2012

Curtain Call 2012: Shopping Sheet

dress category still tops the list

but has been cut down from 17 to 6

bags from 7 to 1

 

it still exceed the budget set

a harmless 10% excess

I therefore conclude

it wasn’t too bad a year

 

the amount of items are greatly reduced

and there are a few items which cost

quite a bit of dollars

which mean that the spending are made

based on quality more than quantity

 

Factors leading to the Reduction

less shopping trips

thanks to the Saturday class and

dissertation writing

 

frankly speaking

my wardrobe is kinda saturated already

besides tribal prints

I don’t see myself diverting from

wearing blue, black, white, grey

 

being anti-social is

in a way good for your budget

 

but wait, there’s online shopping

I made my first ever purchase of clothes

those bags from QS

which is considered vow-breaking

because I have promised that

I would never buy clothes online

 

and being in the critical stage of

MIDDLE AGE CRISIS

at times I really don’t know

what should I be wearing for my age

so I might as well stop buying and

get contended with what I have

 

first half of the year

until late summer

I found myself struggling to fit in

some pairs of jeans and shorts

 

so I started some workout

which worked out pretty fine

and so I found myself “resurrecting”

some clothes I thought I will never

be wearing again

 

in other words

working out is good for

your shopping budget too

since you will be happily fitting in

the pair of 18 year-old skinny jeans

so why bothered to buy new one?

 

shopping is turned into a form of reward

after a long routine which

produces results

 

any clothes are more likely to look good

provided you have got a lovely shape

that’s for sure

 

Looking Forward 2014

the only item in mind right now is to

replace the pair of plain black bikinis I lost

 

sheer stupidity

Lost X Never Found: My backpack on the Ground

 

the rest just let it be

since I have similar items

which makes the loss less painful

 

I started to have this feeling

it’s a form of punishment for

having too many items

buying one after another

although they appear to be similar

so it’s a lesson to teach me

one is good enough

 

why bothered to buy a new backpack

if the old one is still alive and kicking

so the old one is meant to be lost

the same goes to the royal blue dress

and the pull string bag

 

may the loss

teach me something good

cheers

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Trend Setting? X Ordinary Being?: Something about Clothing

from the list via Huffpost

<23 trends guys hate, but women love>

  1. peplum
  2. beanies
  3. wedge sneakers
  4. floppy hats
  5. open-side shirts
  6. bright lipstick
  7. heavy eye-makeup
  8. bandeau bikinis
  9. pointy toes
  10. “fake” nails
  11. high-wais\ted jeans
  12. high-waisted shorts
  13. high-waisted skirts
  14. fold-over ankle boots
  15. ultra-high heels
  16. pantsuits
  17. drop-crotch pants
  18. hair bows
  19. bangles
  20. oversized sweaters
  21. mullet dress
  22. leggings
  23. shoulders pads

 

I totally agree with the list

some correspond with my list of

“Items I will Never Ever Wear”

such as leggings, wedged sneakers

 

well except for the high-waisted

jeans/shorts/skirts

that’s so unfair they are listed as 3 items 

 

and oversized sweaters

they are such comfies 

 

ultra-high heels and

pointy toes

I love seeing other women wearing one

but I am not a big fan of them

except for special occasions

 

bandeau bikinis

why not

if you are already wearing bikinis

does the strap make any different, really?

 

so little crime that

I have been committing

according to the list

yet I could not find a boyfie for long

 

it just went on to show that

it has no direct co relation between

what you wear and

whether man loves it

 

you can criticize a girl for

all the things that she wears

you can even call her a whore

but what if her bf really likes it

 

and how refined you think your taste is

shut the fup

because no one in the world

hell appreciates what you wear

 

okay chill

but the less crime I commit from the list

it may be something to be proud of

 

yet it is written

trends that guys hate yet women love

if I equally hate those items on the list

wait a minute

 

does it mean that..

I have not been dressing and thinking like

what a woman should

 

does it mean that

I have been too masculine all these while

goodness me

 

the same goes to the opposite

I have always been saying

I love guy in

baby blue / plain white shirt and

also white sneaker

 

the other day I was in mall

and suddenly I got this though

these items are available all over the place

sometimes I feel like buying one

which means there are actually men who

buy and wear these, isn’t it?

 

yet I couldn’t seem to see

the right person among the crowd

how is that supposed to be? 

 

if you were to ask me to list down

ten items that I hate seeing a guy wearing

yes.. I have got the list

 

but it’s alright

why bothered to list down

what I dislike

again..

they are all over the place on street

 

so…

trend setting or ordinary being?

all a man or woman can care for

is that one person who looks right

Long Bought X Almost Forgotten: Batches of Loots, Unreported

curtain call 2013

about time to re examine

my loots of the year

 

looks like I didn’t shop too much

this year round

 

wait a minute

before that

I guess I miss out a few items

which I didn’t really talk about

 

not that I wanna hide them

simply missed out the timing to

talk about it

 

08 Oct

my QUIKSILVER duffle and backpack

which were ordered online

I deem them as a pair of couple bags

Quiksilver Mens Zig Bag 01Quiksilver Mens Ublo Backpack 01

 

are already put in use

so in love with them

the skateboard straps for the backpack

they are in fact useful

slotted my shoe bag onto it

oh ya the Winnie the Pooh sling bag

they made a good trio

cabin bags

 

19 Oct

Pre-concert shopping

Vans Authentic lo pro Oxford Wingtip

baby blue instead of b&w because

they a little more girlish

these are man’s model in fact

but I can’t really imagine

a guy in these baby blue oxfies

Vans Authentic lo pro Oxford Wingtip

 

look, this was launched back in summer last year

most-coveted?

yes they are yet

it was not too long before

I got my pair of navy-blue Authentic

Vans Era lo pro and Authentic lo Pro Wingtip Oxford Sneakers Summer 2011

 

bumping into them a few times since then

some other pairs of sneakers joined force

so I was prepared to give them up

 

so fate had it that way that

we met again

in a huge outlet

something like factory outlet

where all the “backdated” sneakers come

before they were sent to

I don’t know where

 

“backdated” yay

that’s a different between

backdated and outdated

backdated simply means

it was launched some time ago

classic models will never go outdated, ever

 

nautical dress

this was after I bought the pair of Vans

Mag Mag was like

hey look this will look good

while you carry your QS backpack and

wear the Vans oxfie

and soon it was my loot

nautical dress

 

Mag was kinda baffled:

wow that was very fast of you

 

this was something totally unplanned for

erm.. how much shopping are

actually planned for ?

a pair of plaid shorts huh?

a little concerned it looks like pajama shorts 

well.. yes, actually

more concerned what am I gonna to match it with?

well.. black top I guess

Vans Boardwalk plaid shorts

 

but what makes it irresistible is

it’s a pair of Vans shorts

brand loyalty, you may call it 

 

11 Sep

buy one free one dresses

yet another LBD

I was too addicted to LBD at

one point of time

there are at least 3 pair of unworn LBDes 

but yet…

LBD sheer sleeves

 

the sheer sleeves are really annoying

no worries…

LBD without sheer sleeves

 

buy one free one

so there’s the second pick

first ever mullet dress

this is a little tricky

low at the back,

longer in front, instead

thank goodness

it wasn’t too obvious, the unevenness 

royal blue mullet dressroyal blue mullet dress

 

one time of mullet dress

are they even called mullet dress

which I couldn’t really bear are

those of two layers design,

eg: inner layer is a short skirt

while outer sheer layer is long

something like this

this is even worse since

both layers are of different colours

double layer dress

 

16 Dec

MNG Jeans oversized cropped slogan tee

not specifically needed or wanted

a gift from my sis

“C’est Magnifique”

that’s magnificent!

C’est Magnifique MNG jeans cropped tee

 

somehow oversized cropped tee is

quite a popular item in my wardrobe

a pair of Pebbles and Bamm Bamm

tied-knot plain tee, in blue & white

and some other which fall in between

cropped or none-cropped

 

alright

that’s all for now

really to do my closing for 2013

 

am I that sure I won’t buy anything

for the next 13 days to come?

well not very

but there’s way to..

there’s a term for it

what firms do in order for their account to

appear better to stakeholders

 

no it’s not cheating

it’s some sort of decorating work..

damn what is it called?

do I really have to go digging up the term

in my A-level Business Studies textbook

 

to cut short the story

what I can do

I mean just in case

just in the not-so-possible case if

I buy something before 2014

 

I will bring these items forward

to the next accounting year

-the end-