My Break So Far and My Last Post

Hi everyone. This is going to be my last post. 

This first week being part of my break has been sluggish. My routine since Monday has been waking up, eating breakfast, and going back to sleep. I don't know why I am going back to sleep. I am not sure what the cause is, but I am happy this is my routine because I really think I deserve it.

I thought I would log my last foodie endeavors. I went to my favorite bakery/cafe, Crown Bakery. I got a strawberry latte and a strawberry croissant. While I was there, my mom and I ordered a short strawberry cake for my graduation party, since I will be celebrating my high school diploma and my associate's in business. 

Have a good summer everyone!

Orientation Day at UNLV

I wasn't in class last Saturday because I was at my UNLV orientation since I'm going to in the fall semester. I liked the campus itself and all the programs it offers. The one thing I disliked the entire orientation was getting split into groups and socializing. 

I got to visit the school I was going to, which is the Lee Business School. It sort of reminded me of a prison. It was made out of cement and was really dark. I liked the other buildings much better, but at least there are plants in the building. 

Childhood Cafe and Manga Store

Last weekend I went to a Korean cafe called Crown Bakery. If you've been to 85 degrees, it's like that, but more vintage and Korean pastries instead. I like 85 degrees, but Crown Bakery is the best for nonsweet cream pastries. My favorite is the cream cheese bun or buttercream bun. I have tried almost everything in that cafe and it is all good. In the picture, I got a strawberry latte and a Hello Kitty macaron.

After the cafe, my parents and I went to a manga store. I didn't get any mangas since they didn't have any that I was interested in, but I did get this Rilakkuma soda. It tasted like cherry sprite, but sweeter. I drank this and it made my mouth feel very gross. You know when something tastes good in the moment, but then when you're done it makes you feel crappy. Yeah. That's how the soda made me feel.

Car Cleaning

I really am running out of things to blog about, but recently I deep cleaned "my" truck.

I took it to the car wash and then I went home and vacuumed everything. After not cleaning it in a while, I was surprised by how clean it still was. Probably because I don't let anyone eat in my car, drinks only.

After I vacuumed I wiped all the windows. I was driving to work yesterday and it was so weird seeing the windows SO clear, I kept thinking I had the window open. I also disinfected everything in the car and cleaned out all the compartments.

I had my Dad buy me car seat covers because the seats were old and I don't know how to clean them without having someone detail the whole car. These seats weren't dirty, but they weren't pretty. It's a 2007 Toyota Tacoma and it has lived a long life since I was a little girl and now I am the one driving it since I technically don't have a car...yet.

A Day After Class

I am running out of things to blog about so I will be talking about my day after class on Saturday.

After class, I went to Walmart to get groceries. I went straight home to eat lunch. I ate karne prita. It's like a Filipino Illongo version of carne asada. When I was done eating, I got ready to go out with my friend to a cafe called Cafe 86.

This was my first time going to the cafe, but I really enjoyed it because it had a BUNCH of Filipino baked goods. For example, ube leche cupcakes (shown below), ube truffles, and ube crinkles. The cafe really made my heart happy.

When my friend and I were done ordering at the cafe, we drove to a park that was nearby and ate our pastries and drinks. It was really nice weather with a slight breeze. In conclusion, after school, my day was nice and peaceful.

TD08 and Spring Break Reflection

TD08:

Lesson 6.9.2 focused on transitions. I didn't know the power of transitions before this lesson and before presenting my PowerPoint in class. I think it is a small detail that makes a big difference that I will apply whenever I make a PowerPoint. 

Blog:

My spring break consisted of three events. 

I didn't go to San Diego like I was going to, but instead, I went to a cat cafe with a friend. The cats there were so cute. Most of the time, my friend and I aggressively played a crime board game in the cafe. After that, we went to Downtown Summerlin to walk around and eat a light dinner.

The other event was going out with my parents to eat Vietnamese food, which is my favorite food. Later we took my little cousin to go get boba and went shopping at Target. 

The last event was going out with my parents again to get crepes, boba, and bubble waffles with ice cream.

I'm Costco's Secret Admirer

I love going to Costco. 

Costco's selection is immaculate. I realized this when I got the bulk version of cotton candy grapes, which is my guilty pleasure. Costco also has my favorite creamer in bulk, which is the "Coffeemate Natural Bliss: Sweet Cream". My creamer can last me two weeks or a bit more and I love it. I like going to their clothes section too. They sometimes sell Champion items on sale, but I went there today to see if they had shirts since summer is coming and they sadly do not... yet? 

Also, Costco food is great. They really limited what they have on their menu. Before they had this turkey pesto sandwich that I loved, but they discontinued it and only sell the OG pizza, hotdog, and chicken bake. Does anyone else remember when Costco sold gelato? Same.

Bridgerton Binge

This weekend, I was extremely bored. I found myself on Netflix watching Bridgerton. I binged the whole season in one day. I will admit I know why everyone hypes it up on TikTok. I really liked the time Bridgerton took place in the British 1800s. I loved all the dresses, social balls, the accent, and the glam that were in the show.

Season one is about a girl named Daphne during the season of courting. Daphne is pronounced the Diamond of the season, which basically means she is the image of beauty and grace. Daphne then meets Simon who is the Duke. Daphne wants to attract more suitors and Simon wants to stop all the Moms from pushing their daughters onto him, so they make a fake attraction to each other.

At first, I was really hesitant to watch Bridgerton, but I don't regret it. It really is a good show that looks into the rich British society of courting. Nonetheless, for someone who rarely watches real-life shows, this one was really enjoyable.

Skin Goals?

I rarely breakout, but this semester for some reason took a toll. I think it was because of economic statistics. That was the most anxious 8 weeks of my life and I am glad it is over. I used to have smooth clear skin, but now I feel a bit rough and bumpy... maybe because of winter. I am finally going to take care of my skin this summer. My Lola (Grandma in Tagalog), Titas (Aunt in Tagalog), and my Mom always told me to wear hats in the summer, but I never did.

I regret not wearing a hat from middle school to right now because I really want to look young when I am old. I have been noticing it's hot and I have been slathering SPF on my face with no shame and whenever I go outside I am always wearing a baseball cap or bucket hat. 

I am also trying this TikTok trend of "Slugging" two times a week. Basically, you do your normal skincare routine, and then at the end (after moisturizing), you take a small amount of anything with petroleum (I used vaseline) to seal everything inside and keep any pollutants out. I am not sure if this is a placebo effect, but my skin texture felt very nice. It apparently keeps you younger because it will prevent all the oils and moisturizers from escaping, which is something we lose A LOT as we get older.

TD07 and Skyrim

TD07:

My favorite lesson was the pivot tables in 5.10. I liked this lesson because it reminded me of organizing when you had to put the different categories in filters, columns, rows, and values. I also thought it was a pretty easy lesson for me since I knew when I was wrong and wouldn't be stuck guessing or using a hint. I knew when I was wrong when my data would look ugly in the pivot table. Pivot tables are also useful because they cater towards large amounts of numbers which I think would be useful when I major in finance in the future.

Blog:

Recently, I have been bored playing League of Legends and Valorant due to player toxicity. So, I decided to start playing The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. I asked my dad to buy me it earlier this weekend and let me say... I have never sat in my chair 7 hours straight in a long time (I obviously went to eat and everything, but nothing else than that). I also recommend not to sit for that long because when I went to bed (really really late) my back was cRaCKiNg and the next day I had a huge headache and nausea probably from staring at a screen for a long time.

Reminder: BLINK when you are watching a show or gaming. My eye doctor told me to when I am gaming or else you get a swelling cornea :p still working on it though.

I set myself up for failure

Right now, I am taking six courses. Three of them are 16-week courses and the other 2 are 8-week courses. I planned to have an 8-week course in the first half of the semester and then the next 8-week course in the second half.

I am preparing for my second 8-week course, but I realized when I checked MyCSN, it's at 8am on Fridays. I realize the problem was the time I was registering for classes was also the time that I would religiously wake up at 5am every day. I fell off of that routine and every time I try to wake up at that time, it does not work anymore, so now I wake up very late around 7am.

Some of you may think that waking up at 7am for an 8am class is not that bad, but the thing is, I like to have slow mornings. By that I mean I like to be alone in the morning (that's why I wake up early so I can avoid people). I like to cook a good breakfast and get ready at my own pace, and I usually leave for my classes 30 minutes before that class starts. So, if I woke up at 7am that only gives me 30 minutes to have my "slow morning" that wouldn't be slow at all. I have been training myself to wake up at 6:30 and with the help of melatonin I actually go to bed at a decent time and wake up at that time. I'm proud of myself so far because I have only needed to use it one time this week.

Trying to Manage My Own Money

Last year I got my first job, and it's only part-time, but the very little money I made seemed a lot to me. I would only get money on holidays and on my birthday, but receiving my own paychecks made me happy. I bought many things on impulse with the money I earned.

Now, I am over that phase and discovered the power of budgeting, investing, and tracking. I know there are different ways to allocate your money, but so far budgeting has been working well for me. I tested out budgeting one month and then not budgeting another.

In the month I budgeted I actually had a lot of money than I would have. I am a frequent shopper in Ulta and it was nice going in the store with the money I had budgeted than just spending all the money I had in my checking account.

The month I did not have any money was the month I would spend all my money the week I got it on random things I wanted but didn't need. Essentially, budgeting stopped my big buying impulse.
Another habit I am incorporating is waiting to buy something right away. For example,  I am a frequent browser on Amazon and when I find something I want or need then I add it to a wish list. I wait a week or two. If the item I added is still on my mind I then further decided if it's actually a need or a want. From there, I trust my judgment. I also still live with my parents, and so they fulfill what I need like food or hygiene products.

Recently, I have not been putting money in my "emergency fund" since it's depreciating, instead, I invest with it on stocks or crypto. Don't get me wrong, I still have money in there, but I don't withdraw or deposit anything in it.

TD06 and Addiction to Cleaning

TD06 Part 1:

A new topic/skill I learned in chapter 4 is 4.10. I did not know before that there were different ways that you could format your references. I definitely find this useful as a student. I have been putting all my references in a citation machine when I could easily put it into the references in windows and it will format everything for me. Then at the end, I can easily put works cited page/bibliography. I wish I knew this sooner when I first started at CSN instead of spending lots of time-fighting with a citation machine. 

Blog:

I remember one memory I had when I was a child. My room was covered in toys and my Mom told me to clean it all up, but as a child I hated cleaning, so instead of putting all my toys in their proper bins, I shoved all of them under my bed. I obviously did not think about how all the toy bins were empty. I remember my Dad lifted my mattress and under it, it was covered in toys.

From there, I have developed a habit of cleaning every Friday after work. I wipe down all my surfaces in my room, clean my bathroom, laundry, and vacuuming. My room is always fairly clean. I really like dust, which sounds weird, but I like wiping it and making a place clean after it had been so dusty. So, because I wipe everything every week, I barely have my dust satisfaction fulfilled, so instead, I find something to organize in my room. 

I honestly really like cleaning but only on my own terms. I don't like when someone tells me to clean because cleaning is my hobby and I want to do it when I will enjoy it since I will do a better job when I am making the choice to do it than being forced to do it.

Minimalizing and Introspection

Recently, I have been trying to minimalize my life. From cleaning my closet to taking away any decor that makes me feel like my room is cluttering. I used to have a lot of decor pieces on my window sill like candles, plants, books, lights, and skincare, but I got tired of it. I moved all my plants to a separate table in my room. I got a basket I didn't use and started organizing it. Now there is just a basket with a fake plant, a book, a journal, hand cream, lip balm, and all my remotes. This was a small change in my room, but for me it made my room look so much more open. I can finally open the shutters because before all my decor would block it and make it tiresome to always open the window. I have a lot of house plants, but I am going to get a shelf that displays them in a much neater.

On my dresser, I had a lot of decor items as well. I almost think I was a maximalist at this point, but I organized everything onto one side where I kept only the essentials, and one or two display items I could not display. Which was my Gucci Bloom perfume and a jewelry dish.

I guess after writing this, I am realizing rearranged many things in my room. I am much happier in it after getting rid of everything that didn't make me happy.

My next task of minimalizing is my nightstand, dresser, and closet. I have cleaned it multiple times, but somehow I am still not able to open the drawer itself without it getting blocked by something, even with how much I decluttered inside. I want to get rid of a lot of my clothes in my closet because it makes me really irritated how I can't open the closet door since there are bags and clothes blocking it from opening it all the way. I hope I am not the only one that gets irritated from small things like that.

Introspection:

After taking IS 101 for a few weeks, I feel I am much more literate in Microsoft and its' functions. I am much more comfortable with the settings and format in Microsoft Word than I was before. The assignment I have liked so far is using a table for a resume. I am not familiar with making a resume at all and I usually just use a simple template, but making my own format was much more enlightening and satisfying when I was done. I also like writing blog posts. I find them really fun because I have a lot of things to say.                                                                                                                                    

I Paid $2,000 to Play Video Games

I have been playing video games since I was 9. My first ever video game was Halo Reach on the Xbox 360 (the most amazing game and console). My dad and his friends let me play even though I would do nothing and didn't even know how to use a controller. From there, I gravitated towards first-person shooter games (FPS) and occasionally MMORPG.

On my Xbox One, I played Call of Duty Modern Warfare for a very long time until I found out about Valorant which was a PC game that was not available on Xbox. I figured it was time to make the switch since PC offered more games than on Xbox. I saved a lot of money and got all my PC specs, I put all the easy parts in the PC tower myself, and then my Dad did all the wiring.

Once my PC came together, I played League of Legends (for a very long time). Then I moved on to the original goal of buying my PC which was to play Valorant. I don't care what anyone says, Valorant has the biggest learning curve ever, from someone who is used to fast-paced FPS video games like COD and Rainbow Six Seige. The concept of not moving and firing a gun made me really frustrated, so then I would move on to playing Sims 4, Genshin Impact, or League of Legends again.

Recently, an MMORPG called Lost Ark came out and I have been playing that, but then I went back to Valorant again because I am addicted to FPS games (it's in my blood). Yesterday, I busted out $40 on Valorant for the battle pass, a skin for the operator (it's a sniper in Valorant), and a couple other things. I clipped some highlights yesterday night when I was playing with my friend. The clip below was a pretty lucky shot I had in a game. Also, most of the time I am quite lucky when I hit my shots. I am scared to start playing ranked games in Valorant because I know it is a very toxic and competitive environment, when the only thing I am good at is sniping and quick scoping. Another aggravating thing I do is playing a duelist* and staying in the back. I get yelled out most of the time for doing it, but Reyna (a duelist agent) has been my ride or die ever since I started sniping and I love her healing abilities.

I am also doing this blog post to make me feel good about my $40 purchase even though my bank is crying. My bank is crying, my heart is happy, and that's all that matters right.... ha... ha... but at what cost. :''')

*duelist: "Agents that create some of the most impacts, offering aggression to a team comp. A duelist should be expected to seek out engagements and frag."

TD04 Things I Learned

The lesson I enjoyed and learned the most about is 2.3 File Management. I enjoyed this lesson because I like to clean, so I organized my own files on my PC because my downloads folder was a bit messy, even though I am usually good at cleaning it. 2.3 helped me become more efficient and use the Recycle Bin. I honestly never used the Recycle Bin before, but now I use it a lot. Many of the other lessons in 2.3 I was familiar with since I do like organizing and cleaning whether it's digital or in person.

TD03 Someting I found useful

So far in IS101, I have enjoyed section 1.3 on digital communication. I think digital communication is very convenient. I liked learning about the different ways of communicating and the terms for communicating. For example, the need for wifi in order to communicate on email or social media. I can apply this outside of my life when I compose emails that would be for work or for personal use. Section 1.3 showed many different functions and buttons on email and I thought that was very helpful because I did not know that some of those functions existed.

This Anime Traumitized Me in A Good Way

My favorite anime is Violet Evergarden. This is a show that is only streamed on Netflix. Violet Evergarden seems to take place in the late 19th century and in the early 20th century. This anime is about a girl who is gifted to Major Gilbert Bougainvillea as a "weapon" due to her fighting capabilities and strength on the battlefield, who had no problem killing others if those were her orders. Throughout the first couple of episodes, we are able to see Violet Evergarden and Major Bougainvillea grow a close relationship, for example, he teaches her how to read, write, and see the beautiful things in life other than war, which is what she has known. During one military siege, Major Bougainvillea and Violet Evergarden are caught in a collapsing building where he is very injured and she is doing anything to save him. During his last moments in the building, he tells her "Violet I want you to be free and live happily, not as a tool, but as a regular human being, and to find a real home.... I love you".

From there, Violet wakes up in a hospital with cold metal arms instead of real human ones. Violet automatically wonders the Major Bougainvillea is and if he is okay. Slowly, the news leaks that he has died, and Violet has become devastated with the loss of her Major. Violet gets a job as an auto memories doll. An auto memories doll is a  typist who specializes in writing letters while also attuning their writing to the sender's emotions to the receiver. Violet determines that she would become an auto memories doll to understand the words her Major spoke, "I love you".

This anime emphasizes the idea of talking to your loved ones as much as possible and saying everything you want to say or you'll miss your chance. For example, Violet had to write a letter for a mother who was very ill and had a daughter. The mother wrote letters to her daughter that would be sent to her on her birthday until she was 50. I am very much an empath when watching anything anime-related and this anime has made me very emotional in every season/movie of Violet Evergarden. There were many more instances and examples are could list, but then this blog post might be too long.

This anime has made me enjoy my life more and how spending time with my boyfriend and family may not feel rare, but at some point in my life, it would feel like a distant memory. This anime also showed me the importance of getting out of your comfort zone and speaking your mind, which is what Violet did to understand what her Major said to her. This is sometimes hard for me because I am shy and sometimes timid, but I am still trying my best.

Why did Sword Art Online do THAT?

Sword Art Online (SAO) was one of the first animes I have watched. I can say that I really enjoyed the first season of the anime. In the first season, the anime takes place in a new VR-MMORPG game called "Sword Art Online". To play this game, you use a headset called NerveGear so the player can be immersed in the world of SAO. The main character's name is Kazuto, but his gamer tag is Kirito. Later, (and this is not a spoiler), the players are stuck and cannot leave SAO. They soon realize they are stuck in a virtual world where death is REAL. For example, if you jumped off a building in SAO your NerveGear would be triggered and emit a signal that was powerful enough to fry your brain.  Now, what is so wrong with this anime? Let me explain.

First, SAO resembles an action-packed, fighting, futuristic, and adventure anime. If you start to watch the anime in all of the seasons, you realize that the plot is very consistent and fluid. It isn't boring, but then all these girls are gushing over Kirito. In almost every season, a girl is impressed by Kirito's skills as a player and soon has a crush on him. In my opinion, when I was watching SAO, I was expecting all fighting and solving the conflict at hand. Instead, in almost every season there is a scene or episode filler of Kirito expanding his harem. They did not engage in any inappropriate manners, but it was weird knowing Kirito has all these girls who were "simping" for him, while they were stuck in a game where they could possibly die.

(The next part has a slight spoiler)

Second, season two of SAO was interesting but boring. What I mean by that is, it felt like a repeat of season one but with different elements. Season 2 was when Kirito and all his friends had escaped SAO, except the girlfriend, Asuna, whom he met in SAO. She was stuck in another game called, Alheim Online. Alheim Online was very similar where it revolved around fairies and its' different races in the world with a fighting aspect. Later we learn that Kirito is getting help from his cousin, Suguha, to find Asuna. During this time, Suguha remembers her feelings toward Kirito, and that she loves him romantically. This is why I slowly stopped watching SAO, they may be cousins, and may not be considered "incest", but it was definitely uncomfortable watching it from that point on.

SAO is a really good anime that definitely had a good element of fighting, but it also had an element of harems and incest which I was very uncomfortable watching from that point on. If those elements were not included/emphasized in the anime then it would have been very engaging for me, in my opinion.

My Critique of Attack on Titan

Attack on Titan takes place in a world that is surrounded by walls. These walls have layers with the outer wall being Wall Maria, the middle wall being Wall Rose, and then the inner wall is named Wall Sina. These walls have protected the civilization from enormous giants known as Titans who feast on people. Suddenly, Wall Maria is infiltrated by a titan, letting in many other Titans into the civilization within Wall Maria where they eat many people. The main character is Eren Yeager who joins the army out of anger towards these Titans who had eaten his mom during the infiltration of Titans in Wall Maria.

After watching Attack on Titan up to season 4, I can say that it is a wonderful, action-packed anime. This anime does have the elements of "The Hero's Journey" where we follow Eren Yeager from his weak heroic state to a strong fighting character that will do anything to eliminate any Titan. One reason I like this anime so much because it does not have any fillers. The story is straight to the point and does not leave its viewer in a state of boredom. The episodes are not long and are easy to digest for the viewer to follow along and still remember events that were from the last episode.

I think that Attack on Titan should have made a love interest within the anime more clear. There are many times throughout the story that it was confusing who was the love interest, and to this point, I still do not know who it is, but I do have my suspicions of who it could be.

This anime and its strong character development with not only Eren Yeager, but also the supporting characters. These characters made the story interesting and helped make Eren Yeager into a strong person. I certainly agree that small events in the story should have been made more clear, but maybe that is the point, for the reader to wonder. Nonetheless, Attack on Titan is a great anime that will have you at the edge of your seat.