characters (not) welcome

It's making headlines nationally (did CNN really need to take a line from my all time favorite Alice in Wonderland to describe this?), more so here in Hawaii... big time Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o's "girlfriend" never really died, above all, she NEVER EXISTED. What? I don't follow college football (American footbal, in general), so I don't know too much about Manti, other than the fact that he is from Hawaii. Earlier this month, my co-workers were talking about him and how he played (and eventually, won) a game after finding out his grandmother and "girlfriend" died. I recall saying, "wow, that is really tragic and how crazy is it that this all happened around the same time?" That was it. So, you can imagine how confused I was when I saw Manti's fake girlfriend story running on the news. It's truly bizarre. I mean, so much attention was drawn to his "girlfriend", the fact that he overcame the loss of "her" and his grandmother and won a game. I hear reports that he never met "her", another report that Manti's dad confirms they did meet at a Stanford game and some romantic bullsh*t came about. It just get weirder and weirder (read the original article that broke the story here: http://deadspin.com/5976517/manti-teos-dead-girlfriend-the-most-heartbreaking-and-inspirational-story-of-the-college-football-season-is-a-hoax#13584612868253&). I couldn't help but laugh at the whole thing. I'm still laughing. You proclaim your love for someone--on a global scale, no less--who you JUST have an online relationship with. It's muchy, I swear. Regardless of the outcome, whehter Manti knew or not, it is all out there now, for the whole world to see and the butt of all jokes. How humiliating. Sucks to be him right now...

All of this gets me going because it shows how gullible people are, especially with falling in love over the internet. I mean, it can't be too hard to meet the person on the other end first before confirming the relationship, right? I just don't get it. Sure, I've met people online. I did the whole AOL chatroom/IM (a/s/f?) back in the day, but just to have a little fun talking sh*t and swapping underground hip-hop cassette tapes. It's been, what, over 15 years now and I still keep in touch with a few of them once in a great while. Here's the clincher: I have NEVER met them in person. Should I be concerned whether the picture they've posted is really them, or if the stories they tell me were true, etc.? No because I wasn't trying to hook-up, people. I had no emotional attachments other than expecting a mixtape with dope underground music every month. My feelings were never going to be let down, my heard was never prone to being broken, nor my world shattered (unless I didn't get a mixtape for a while). Can't say the same for them, but that's just how it was. My advice, just don't put your feelings on the line online (play on words, son!) until you have met the person and know for sure it's serious enough to publicly declare your love for one another.

As for the people who create fake personas on the internet, who are they really fooling? Nobody but themselves. I'm not sure what they're trying to achieve. I know a few people who have created fake social networking accounts, in an attempt to get closer somebody and/or to portray someone they only wish they could be. It is all by accident how I stumbled upon these fascinating discoveries... I am linked to some random profile; the photos, statements, style of writing look oddly familiar and upon further investigation you realize it's someone you know. Crazy. I should be an investigator; I think I'd be really good at it. Anyway, it's amazing how most of them think they won't get caught because, yeah, it's the internet. But seriously, these people aren't remotely clever enough to cover their tracks and go unnoticed. It's even more hilarious when they don't know that you know about their fake persona and it continues.

These are instances in life where you just have to sit back and watch [and giggle & cringe] as everything unfolds...

yo, 2013!

What a trip.  2012 just flew by.  While I did not get a chance to "document" my year, I can generally list what went down: a month-long trip to the Philippines, new jobby-job, held our very first garage sale (a success, might I add!), did minor repairs around the house (so proud of myself), enrolled back in to school, traveled for the first time to Seattle, WA (separate entry for this soon)... 

And now it's a new year!  I don't do resolutions, but I do have a list.  A simple list, which I am keeping to myself.  Okay, maaaybe I can disclose an item or two: spend less and travel, travel, travel.  I'm definitely looking forward to traveling.  I'm a Sagittarius--I was born to travel.  Last weekend, I opened up a world map and had my nephew close his eyes and point anywhere on the map.  Wherever his finger landed, I told him that's the next place I'd visit.  His finger landed in Brazil.  Hmmm... I have a few places in mind, but nothing definite.  I just know that I want to go somewhere I've never been.

So that's that.  Here's to the new year... Cheers!

{Image courtesy of 1. Timo Elliot}

random: bum big toe, OG robeastprints

OK, the dust hasn't quite settled yet but I am making time to post something. I'm on to Week Four with the new jobby-job. It's been pretty good so far.  But I did stub my big toe two days ago at work.  Shit's pretty serious.  It still kinda hurts when I try to bend it.  So no high heels for a week or two.  Eesh.

I can't remember how I stumbled on this (I was probably Google-ing "robeastprints" for the heck of it), but I found my old Geocities website: http://www.geocities.ws/robeastprints/index-2.html.  Pretty amazing that it's still somewhere out there since Yahoo! shut down Geocities in 2008, I think.  Anyway, I lost all the website's contents and formats when my computer crashed last year.  But I'm happy that I found it.  So peep it if you have a chance.  I do have to warn you that my website's amateur HTML shit, so don't expect Adobe Flash and all that junk.  It was a project we had to do in college and I carried on through to 2004, son!

I'm psyched it's a 3-day weekend.  Looking forward to catching up on a couple of films, blogging [I hope!] and just chillin'...

Toodle-loo

confection obsession: french macarons

They are magical petit puffs of confectionary goodness. I picked these up from La Tour Café last week and have been meaning to gushingly blog about them, but things came up and it got pushed on the back burner. Fret not, I managed to write a review on Yelp: http://robeast.yelp.com

Once the dust settles, I hope to do a proper blog entry. Until then, catch me here:
http://robeastprints.tumblr.com
http://www.twitter.com/robeastprints
http://www.pinterest.com/robeastprints

Au revoir!

{All images courtesy of robeast}

nails inc.

I just tested out the nails inc. Special Effects set, The Wyndham Collection, which comes with Teal Black Kensington and The Wyndham overglaze. It's so dope! I love the dark teal polish on its own, but when you add the overglaze, it just sets the color off! I put one coat of the overglaze in the pic below just to see how it would turn out...

Dope, right?

take the brain out, leave the ❤ in

I cannot wait for Aesop Rock's new album to drop on July 10th.  I ❤ Aesop Rock.  He could very well be my favorite rapper of all time ('cause at this very moment I can't think of anyone else).  Me, his biggest fan?  Nah, I've just been an admirer since "Music for Earthworms" back in '97, shoooooot...


And some of my favorite Aesop Rock tracks...

  


 His collaboration with Jeremy Fish (so dope!)

victoria, victoria

She's got style and grace.  I'm talking about Victoria "Posh" Beckham.  I've been a fan since the good ol' Spice Girls days.  Remember in "Spice World", where she couldn't decide whether to wear the 'little Gucci dress, the little Gucci dress or the little Gucci dress'? Anyway, I think she's blessed in every way: she's got David, a gorgeous family, a drive & discipline in whatever she does, a body I can only dream of having, and the most brilliant fashion sense.

I mean even whilst pregnant and then post-pregnancy, Victoria certainly did not sacrifice her style over comfort--heaven forbid!

But enough about Mrs. Beckham's personal style, I wanted to focus on her fashion lines: Victoria Beckham & Victoria, Victoria Beckham.  The first line, which is on its eighth season, is signature Victoria: lady-like, svelte, classic and impeccably tailored dresses.  You literally have to have 0% body fat (or some Spanx) to rock her dresses.  I thought her Fall 2012 RTW collection was a lot sportier, almost militant, but still classic.  Here are three of my favorites:

     

Her other collection, Victoria, Victoria Beckham is more on the fun, flirty side.  Very girly.  But the dresses are still as sophisticated as the lady herself.  Once again, some of my favorites (I love the argyle-print dress!):

Unfortunately, I can't afford any of her dresses ☹, but I can sure appreciate the precision and quality that Victoria has put into each piece.  She knows how us women should dress.  I hope that Victoria has many more collections and that she continues to inspire us (most especially, me!) with her own personal style.

{Images courtesy of 1. STYLE.com, 2. thru 5. People, 6. thru 8. STYLE.com, 9. thru 13. Victoria Beckham}