The Unpredictability of Life

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Even though my day-to-day life largely follows a routine, I find that life is still unpredictable. When I was in my last year of high school, I had a major fall out with a couple of my classmates, and they were a couple of my closest friends in high school. I didn’t stay in contact with them after graduation. The reason for the fall out is somewhat of a blur at this point – Does the reason even matter anymore?

When I got married, I received a congratulatory message from one of said classmates. It had been 10 years since we last spoke, but I felt that the message was genuine. I reciprocated the olive branch and asked if she wanted to hang out. We did, and since then we meet up on a regular basis. I remember why we got along in high school. We have similar interests and hobbies, and our personalities mesh well together. The old me would have never imagined that this would happen, especially after 10 years of not talking to one another.

Another example is meeting my husband. I knew my husband when we were students in university, but we barely knew each other. We’ve actually hung out in Anime Club group outings before, but he didn’t remember me and mis-remembered me as someone else. =.= Can you believe it? Hahaha, but likewise, if you told me that he would be my now-husband, I would not have believed you. Life is so crazy sometimes!

A more recent example is that I did not imagine that I would be getting into lolita fashion. I find that you kind of have to be intentional with getting into the fashion; it doesn’t just happen randomly. You have to actively look for pieces to wear, and through multiple platforms. Lolita fashion is not fast fashion – you can’t just order whatever you want whenever you want. I like how sustainable it is (buy and sell, trades, online and at in-person clothing swaps). My interest in the fashion first began when I was in elementary school. It was shown in anime and worn by some Japanese artists that sang anime openings. However, I had no means of buying the fashion and no income of my own. I liked the fashion but didn’t see it as a possibility but now I am an adult!

I guess anything can happen, and that makes life exciting. I look forward to what happens next. ^_^

Being Intentional With What You Own

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I greatly dislike hoarding. At the same time, I am a collector and love knickknacks. Ideally, I would be a minimalist, but I love cute little things too much to be one. I think what I really like is organized clutter. I own a lot of things, but everything is exactly where I want them to be. Everything is intentional.

This translates to my wardrobe. In my last post, I wrote about getting into lolita and EGL fashion. One of the things that I started doing on a regular basis was re-evaluating everything I own. I began buying a lot of clothes because of my changing style, and as a result I was wearing my old clothes less. I was also running out of space to store my old clothes, and most of my old clothes just didn’t feel like “me” anymore. So I started selling my clothes and other items on Facebook Marketplace. I’ve sold over 40 items and am selling over 40 items, and am finding more and more things to sell each week. I’ve made over $500 on Facebook Marketplace. My husband jokes that one day I won’t have any more items left! 😂

The funny thing is that even though I’ve picked out over 80 items to sell, my home looks the same. 😂 The other funny thing is that I told him that if someone entered my house and wanted to buy something, I would ask “How much?” & this kind of became the criteria of what I want to keep and what I want to donate or sell.

I believe in Fullmetal Alchemist’s equivalent exchange when it comes to owning things. “Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is Alchemy’s First Law of Equivalent Exchange”. This is a line from the anime. If I am buying something to replace something else, I should get rid of the original item.

The end result is hopefully like Marie Kondo‘s teachings: where everything you touch in your home sparks joy. Getting into lolita fashion made me more intentional with what I buy and what I own. This is especially the case because ideally a coord (or outfit) has matching pieces. Instead of shopping randomly, a curated wardrobe makes more sense economically and practically. & while things in the past might have sparked joy for me previously, they don’t anymore, and that is okay. It doesn’t make sense for me to always love the same things because I am constantly evolving and changing as a person. I am growing older and maturing, and so what I own should reflect this.

Return to Blogging? Reintroduction Post! 🎀

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Hi everyone!

It’s been several months since my last blog post, and at one point I was thinking that I was done with blogging for good. Recently, I started missing it… I guess once a blogger, always a blogger?

I think that one of the reasons I took a break from blogging was that I didn’t feel like continuing with the direction my blog was going. I wrote anime reviews and posted various snapshots of my life. However, with Instagram, it felt redundant posting on Instagram and then posting the same content on the blog.

In the past year, there have been some changes in my life. Besides getting married in September 2024, the biggest change is probably me getting into lolita and EGL (Elegant Gothic Lolita) fashion. & that’s the direction I want my blog to head towards. I have been part of the EGL community for a little over a year now, so I am still a newbie. I love the fashion and would love to post more about the fashion and my experience with being part of the EGL community. I don’t know what that looks like yet – I don’t know how often I’ll actually post or what kind of content I’ll put out, but this is my interest and what I want to focus on. I do post my coords on Instagram, and I want to make my blog posts different from my Instagram posts so I’m not just reposting the same content. Still figuring it out, but at least I’m starting somewhere. I hope that you’ll stick with me along this journey! ❤

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A little reintroduction about myself 🎀

My name is Rose, and I have been a blogger here on WordPress since I was sixteen years old (those old posts have been deleted, for better or for worse…). I’ve been blogging on and off for over ten years now, and I am still a huge anime lover, especially the BL genre. 😅 I’m also a huge fan of danmei and Chinese historical fantasy dramas, and not going to lie, I probably watch more Chinese dramas than anime nowadays. However, I seldom watch dramas that take place in a modern day setting. I like to cosplay at anime conventions and am slowly building my lolita wardrobe. I like afternoon tea and decorating my home with teacups and knickknacks. I do an assortment of arts and crafts in my spare time, especially making cosplays and accessories that I can wear in my day-to-day life. I still play Animal Crossing New Horizons almost every day. Finally, I love spending time with my friends and going on café dates with my husband. ^_^

New Me?

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Hey~

It’s been a while since my last blog post. Over half a year, as a matter of fact. I feel a little reluctant to update the blog because I feel like a different person now. When I skim through my old blog posts, I know that all my posts are *me*, but I don’t have the same interests as before.

I don’t watch trainee competition shows anymore. I used to follow them so obsessively that I created a second Twitter account to fangirl about the show and even collaborated with other users – I voted for their bias, and they voted for mine. I cringe a little whenever I think about this! Just a little.

I actually don’t watch that much anime anymore. I still do, but I mainly watch Chinese historical fantasy/xianxia/wuxia dramas now. I also read a lot of Korean manhwa. Can I still be considered an anime blog?

I don’t cosplay as much anymore. I do have a couple of cosplans lined up for future conventions, but I recently got into lolita fashion.

I used to gush about all my hobbies and interests, but now those interests look different. I still like to create and write. I want to continue blogging, but it feels a little weird returning to this blog when this blog is filled with posts that no longer reflect who I am. I don’t know if I’m making sense. I want to write about Chinese dramas and lolita fashion. I don’t really want to create a new blog and start over because that seems like so much work, but this blog feels a bit foreign to me. I’m not sure what to do.

I would love to hear your thoughts if you have anything to share! Who is still here, anyway??

Happy Valentine’s Day, by the way!

Rose ❤

What counts as wasting time?

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I have this thought, and I can’t seem to figure it out. Maybe I need more sleep.

What is a good use of time versus a bad use of time?

I’ve heard that Tiktok and Instagram reels are time wasters – but why? Sure, you might think you’d rather spend your time doing something else, but what makes another activity more worthwhile? If you enjoy watching Tiktok, isn’t that fine?

Is watching television a better use of time than watching Tiktok? Or is doing something more engaging or active a better use of time than watching television? Where does it end? I currently don’t even have the Tiktok app installed so I’m not trying to defend the app or anything like that. I just don’t know if there’s some sort of hierarchy or criteria of what constitutes as a waste of time. And is this even important? Maybe not, haha.

I would like to optimize my time, and some people online suggest limiting social media. However, I just don’t get the rationale of why those are seen as “less worthy”.

If you have any thoughts, please feel free to offer your insights and suggestions! Again, maybe I need more sleep. Dx

Sakura Con 2024 – Cherry Blossoms & Anya Forger Cosplay

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I went to Sakura Con for the first time in March. It was a lot of fun! The day before the con, I went the University of Washington and got some photos with the cherry blossoms. UW is my favourite cherry blossom spot.

For the first day of the con, I wore a maid uniform.

I also cosplayed as Anya Forger from Spy x Family for one of the days.

I definitely want to go back! Best of all, I found Kaiji art at a con for the first time. I now have a complete Kaiji ita bag.

Cosplays (2022-2024)

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I’ve posted these photos on my Instagram, but finally posting here on the blog… a couple years later. At this point, my love of cosplay was dying, so that’s probably another reason for the late post.

At the same time, I was getting more into dresses and wearing lolita-style fashion. Cosplay was feeling like fast fashion to me – you wear something once, and then you don’t really wear it again. At least with dresses you can wear them whenever you want. I didn’t want to spend the money on cosplays and also didn’t have as much space to store them.

But… I recently cosplayed at Sakura Con, and it was pretty fun. I borrowed a maid outfit from my friend, and I bought a wig and hair accessories for an Anya cosplay but repurposed the rest from my closet. This doesn’t mean that I’m going to cosplay a lot in the future again, but I likely will for conventions and other events. Will be posting those photos soon. =)

Shaymin-inspired outfit (Pokémon) – October 2022

Mari (Omori) – January 2023

Hotaru (Dagashi Kashi) – January 2023

Anri (Durarara!!, Cover CD Song Version) – September 2023

School uniform-inspired outfit (March 2024)

Photo credit: @skywingphoto on Instagram

Montreal & Saint-Sauveur 2024

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Thanks for the warm welcome back to blogging. I really appreciate y’all. ^_^

I went to Quebec for about a week for the first time. I spent about a day or two in Montreal, and the rest of the time was largely in Saint-Sauveur, a town in Quebec. I enjoyed my trip a lot; I love the architecture and attractions of Old Montreal (the churches, the ferris wheel, and just about all the buildings are beautiful), the food is amazing, the people are really nice and most of them speak English (so practically no language barrier), I can use my Canadian credit card and don’t have to worry about conversion rates, and I can use my phone and data without being charged extra – very practical reasons, but I’m a practical and logic-oriented person. Despite learning French throughout elementary and high school, my French is not good at all.

The ferris wheel was the attraction I wanted to see the most.

We went to a cool Japanese cocktail place and saw a rainbow the next day.

I was with a large group of people. We stayed at a chalet and ate at a French restaurant.

We went snowmobiling, and my favourite part of the trip was the Nordic spa. This is my first time at a spa. I got a massage too!

We went to a Sugar Shack! I learned that it’s only available for about a month in a year, and it’s unlimited food. The food was extremely fresh. I ate poutine and crepes too, of course, on separate days. My French teachers in school would always talk about the food in Montreal so I had to try them.

I finally got the experience swirling maple syrup on a stick after learning about it in elementary school, French class, haha. I saw the maple sap drip down into the buckets on the trees, but apparently that’s more of a touristy thing. They have more sophisticated methods of collecting sap now with wires. I hope to see ice sculptures in Quebec City one day, another thing I’ve learned about in French class. We also made dumplings together, and I’m pleased with how successful they turned out.

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Thanks for reading!

Headband Galore

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In my last post, I talked about how I like to wear themed outfits with matching headbands. Here are some more moments:

Cinnamoroll

I wore a blue dress and white cardigan with my Cinnamoroll headband. My friend drew chibi Luo Binghe for me and made it into a sticker!

Kiki’s Delivery Service

For my birthday in October of last year, I dressed up as Kiki’s Delivery Service. I loved the tea cozies and bought my own for my froggy tea pot shortly after this experience!

Pompompurin

I wore a brown dress and matching Pompompurin headband at this brunch place.

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It’s also fun to dress up at concerts and match with the theme or performer. I wish I wore my Haikyuu jersey when I saw SPYAIR at Sakura Con… but I was ready for Miku! I went to the Miku Expo in Vancouver this week. Unfortunately, they used a LED screen instead of hologram despite having the technology for it. But I had fun anyway. 🙂

Pumpkin Patch (October 2023)

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Just sharing some photos from October LOL. My favourite Sanrio character is Kuromi, so I wore black to match with the headband. I have a headband collection and like to wear matching outfits. It’s fun for me, haha.

These are a few of my favourite photos with my friends and with my boyfriend at the time, now fiancé.