Finding The Right Pair of Jeans

     Jeans are available in large range of styles, colors and washes. I never knew that there are different types of jeans (classified by their waistbands, pockets or back yoke) until I researched on them for this blog post.

     Knowing the little details is important in looking for jeans, especially to find a type suited for one's body structure.

(credits to englishteacherdotme of wordpress for these useful bits of information I learned)

1. WAISTBAND TYPE

   The waistband is made of a double layer of denim, it is more rigid, allowing it to hold your tummy much like a girdle. A wider waistband will help more.

    Super high rise jeans have waistbands more than an inch above your waist. These jeans are best for leg lengthening. 

High rise jeans have waistbands that are an inch above your waist. They are best for long bodies or those with long legs.

Medium rise or mid-rise jeans have waistbands located precisely on the waist

Low-rise jeans have waistbands 2-5 inches below the belly button. These jeans are best for those with flat tummies. Low to M Rise jeans on the other hand, are the most common waistband type of jeans, which have waistbands 2-3 inches below the belly button. These are best for flattening bottoms.

Also known as Brazilian Low Rise jeans, the ultra low rise jeans are growing in popularity for its high quality and it is best for short bodies.

2. BACK YOKE TYPE

The Inverted Arc makes the rear appear fuller.

The straight or horizontal yoke line makes the waist appear wider but does not really emphasize curves.

The "V” Shape is most flattering back yoke cut and is the most used yoke cut in jeans.

The sweetheart yoke type can make a small rear look fuller because of the cut's heart shape and it works on skinny jeans to emphasize curves.

The Extra Wide yoke type has back pockets placed lower than usual for the "falling" look but the yoke type is recommended for men.

Pants with no yoke at all suits women with larger rears.

3. LEG TYPE (the most important styling decision in finding jeans that suit one's body structure)

Skinny - leg-hugging , close fit  all throughout

Straight - straight, narrow cut and does not flare at the ankles

Boot - Close fit in the thigh and a flared lower leg

Flare - Narrow cut until the knee, but has  a wide flare at the leg and usually the cut used for low rise jeans

Slouch - wide in the legs all throughout

Tapered - Cut narrows toward the ankle 

Capri - usually ends below the knee

Stove Pipe - oversized straight cut

Cropped - ankle-length cut but can be cropped at any length from the mid-calf to the knee

Gaucho - extra-wide flare

Cuffed - a fold at the end of the legs and is not necessarily a straight cut

Bucketlist: Win in Dr. Martens' #StandForSomething Contest

           

     Every month, UK Shoe brand Dr. Martens, holds a contest for #StandForSomething and the winner gets a pair of DMs of her choice. As a collector of shoes and a big fan of the brand, I decided to try my luck for the month of September.

     To join the contest, you need to tell Dr. Martens what you stand for and upload a photo of yourself wearing DMs for your #StandForSomething footprint, which will serve as your entry for the contest. So I asked my mom to take photos of me yesterday (yes she's actually a good photographer) because I was coincidentally wearing my DMs. Since I was in a good mood for editing, I asked my mom to take several photos so I could "clone" myself to give a little edge. I also sent Dr. Martens what I stand for and the picture above was the result.

     So I am asking you again to wish me luck! I'd be really happy if I win this. It'll be the best pre-Christmas gift ever.

      PS. I am not from United Kingdom and i don't know why that location appeared. I think maybe it's from my past location on facebook.....so yeah....

#5

Bucketlist: My Fashion Ambition and The Road To SoFA

             There are only two things I want to be after I graduate from college. A full-time surgeon and a part-time fashion designer. On this blog post you are reading right now, lies the history of my fashion ambition and how my road to SoFA started. What is SoFA, you might wonder. I'll explain that later.

              I loved fashion ever since I was young. I always see to it that I'm comfortable and confident with what I wear.......and that I stand out. ((Credits also to my mom for having a good taste in fashion)) Fashion shows the diversity of man. I was amazed by how designers show their creativity and uniqueness through clothes, shoes, etc, and use their creations to  make people find comfort and be happy with what they wear. 

              I started having an interest in the fashion industry when I was 7. That was also when I started to have an interest in designing. I had two folders where I placed all my designs but unfortunately, I forgot where I kept the one with the designs I made when I was 7 after we got flooded. What's left with me now is the folder with my designs when I was 8 or 9 but unfortunately again, there are only a few designs left in the folder. 

Here's a picture of my fashion folder I kept for so many years.

And here's a photo of all the designs left in the folder. I think I lost the other folder and the other designs during the flood in 2009.

               I love to draw. Even until now, I still design clothes, especially dresses. And every time I draw people, I really emphasize what they're wearing and I make sure that I don't leave out details, even how a certain texture looks like. I'll post my creative portfolio with all my recent designs on this blog (it's one of the requirements for my application for SoFA, which I will further blog about in this post after this paragraph). 

                A few years back, I heard about the School of Fashion and the Arts, or the SoFA Design Institute. It is the first specialized design college in the Philippines and is the leading educational institution committed to art. It is located in Makati City. The school provides workshops, short-term courses, and long-term courses related to designing and the the world of fashion.

                  SoFA also provides modern and high-class facilities and great opportunities to their students, who are trained by people who are well-known in the country for their excellence in the field of fashion and design like Marina Benipayo, Luis Espiritu and Richard Papa. 

   

                  Some works of their students are featured in newspapers, fashion shows and exhibits too. 

Some members of the SoFA alumni are famous in the Philippine fashion industry, like Tippy Sy, whose creations have been featured in numerous magazines.

                    I am going to college next year and I have arts for my second choice for what course to take. My first choice is a science course, since I will have to take up a premed course before I proceed to Medicine but I am really determined to apply for SoFA since it has been part of my bucketlist for a million years, and finally I am on the right age too! I'm planning to apply for a scholarship for a 2-year program in Fashion Design and Marketing and if I pass the standards of the SoFA team, I still have to decide whether to make my pre-med course and medicine wait for about two years and join the program, take up my pre-med course and take the program after and proceed to medicine, or not to take the program and just consider SoFA's workshops every summer if I have the time. I started compiling my works in my creative portfolio, which I will post to this blog and send to SoFA by next year together with the other requirements.

 So wish me luck!

Why I Hate Going To An Internet Cafe

                If you're wondering why I haven't posted on this blog for so long.............it's because computer's CPU got broken. Now, I am in an internet cafe typing school stuff I have to pass, but before I leave, I wanted to blog about something first:
HOW I'VE ALWAYS HATED INTERNET CAFES.

Let me start my rant.

Reasons why I hate going to an internet cafe:
1. NOISY, INCONSIDERATE PEOPLE.
     On my right, is a woman skyping with someone. She's talking in a different language because she is not from my country....... and she's not speaking in English. She has been shouting and shouting and talking really fast and I cannot understand a thing. On my left, is a boy playing an online game. Every time he scores or loses, he shouts and swears and says all the bad words possible. I really can't concentrate on doing my school work.

2. EYES EVERYWHERE.
       There are people who would sit beside you and suddenly, you just realize that they're watching what you're doing. I hate it. PRIVACY, PLEASE.

3. HARD KEYBOARDS.
       You have to press the spacebar of the keyboard I'm using right now like 65 million times until it actually works. There's also that moment when you use a different keyboard, and your typing speed just becomes slower.

4. CLEANLINESS.
       Just think of how many people has used the mouse you're using and the keyboard you're using or the chair your sitting on. Very unsanitary, right? The clerks don't even sanitize or wipe the hardware devices. There are also people who spent the whole day under the sun, who go inside the internet cafe. Some of them just don't realize their odor diffusing and circulating through the whole place.

5. SUPERULTRAMEGA SLOW INTERNET CONNECTION.
       Basically, there's is a competition kind of relationship between the people using the computers. Whoever got the faster internet connection here, well, good for you.

6. AIRCONDITIONING
       It's freeeeeeeeezing here.
     

#4

Light Graffiti

                 Light graffiti is long exposure photography using lights to create objects and add effects to a photo that are not actually there in real life.

                I chose to do this for one of our activities in Photography Class. We were to take a photo of something with entropy ( uncertainty or significant arrangement/disorder) and I think that doing light graffiti is one of most creative ways to show entropy.

                I  learned doing light graffiti when I was a sophomore, when I first had my DSLR. And it's actually easy! All you have to do is set your Camera's settings to Av which emphasizes the aperture. Then, set the ISO speed to 100. That way, the image won't stabilize as quick and the movement of light will be captured. It is best to use the tripod to avoid shaking when taking pictures of light graffiti so that these light painting will not be ruined.

                I had to improvise on my camera's flash since its flash board got broken, so I used the emergency light of the radio I have here at home. Since all other the lights should be turned off,  the flash is important so that the camera would be able to focus on the subject.  I also didn't know where I placed my small LED flashlight, so I used my phone's charger. I also had to set the camera's timer and run back and forth to take several photos of myself doing light graffiti.

 This was the result:

             

Netizens of Youtube

         Interested in blogs but tired of reading and scrolling and reading and scrolling until your eyes hurt? I feel you, well, unless I'm really in the mood of reading lengthy blogs.  That's why there's Youtube, where you can view video blogs............or vlogs for short.

         I started watching Ryan Higa (nigahiga on youtube) two years ago, having no idea that what he has been posting for the past 5 or 6 years are called vlogs, Last year, a friend of mine on twitter told me to watch Dan Howell and Phil Lester's videos (danisnotonfire and amazingphil on youtube). After watching their videos, I wanted to explore more about vlogs and people posting videos similar to theirs and I realized that there was wide community of vloggers on Youtube, especially in the United Kingdom and United States.

         Vloggers are people who post videos about their daily lives or things that catch their attention. These people may post videos about travel, DIYs, challenges, rants, embarassing experiences, other vloggers, music and many many more things we can relate to. For teenagers like me who would browse through tons and tons of vlogs during my spare time,  you may recognize these people;

          One thing I love about these vloggers is that they don't make me feel alone with my weird opinions about life and everything in it. They talk about things I am interested in and they definitely lighten up my mood because of their jokes, sarcasm and the discoveries I learn from them. And you have to admit, some of them look quite ravishing too *cough* Jack and Finn Harries *cough*

        I look up to them as inspirations and I hope everyone could gain the confidence that they have in sharing their insights to the world and have the same outgoing personalities as they do, and maybe the world (or world wide web) will be a better place for netizens.

#3

Multiplicity

Abra Cadabra!

This is one of our projects in ICT Photography. Featuring my classmate, Li-an!

22 Signs You're An Ex-Convent School Girl

         I was reading viewing some blogs when I came across a post from nkayesel.wordpress.com (link below) :

LINK: 22 Signs You're An Ex-Convent School Girl 

                    I am currently a senior in a former-all-girls school and I've been through a year of having no boys in our batch, until our school became a co-ed school, adding boys to the high school, but then in my senior year now, I belong to a section with no boys because there are only six boys in our batch and they were put in one section. So basically, I'm back to a somewhat all-girls environment.

                   When I was reading the post from nkayesel.wordpress.com, I was literally laughing at how true all her statements were and I just wanted to share the few signs that struck me most:

                   First, the heavy-lifting. We've been through playfests and medicine drives and many more activities, where we had to carry boxes and boxes and more boxes, couches, cabinets, tables, chairs, and all the heavy things we never imagined we could carry, without boys. Talk about girl power, eh?

                   Second, dress codes. I have to say, for my whole life, the last time I wore a miniskirt was about 6 years ago. I was 9. But I wear dresses!...................................... on formal occasions and if my mom forces me to. I also remember arguing with my mom because she wanted me to wear shorts, but I wanted to wear pants and it went on and on for hours. My mom would always tell me before that I dress like a nun. I never owned a shirt with a plunging neckline and I never wore sleeveless blouses if I'm not forced to (But now's a different situation, because the weather's soooooooooo warm, I think I'm gonna drown in sweat or something)

                   Third, going through the major vain phase. I'd like to share this joke from my school. Let x be a different school, y another different school, and z, my school.

"Psssssst, hey, beautiful!"

student from x: *ignores because she's too shy*

student from y: *walks away because she thinks she's not beautiful enough*

student from z: "OMG ME? I'M BEAUTIFUL!!! WHAT IS IT?"

                   Fourth, skirt rolling. No one cares if your shorts can be seen underneath.................except for the teacher.

                   Fifth, the Our Father. Not only the Our Father, but many many many many many more! Who would forget the Our Father or the Hail Mary or the Glory Be if every time a class starts or ends, we would always have a short prayer. Now that I'm off to college next year, this will be one of the things I will miss the most.

                    Sixth, the hymns that I will never forget. Yes. Even my CAE teacher,who graduated from my school yeeaaaaaars ago, would sing antiphons and psalms and religious songs with perfect lyrics until now! I can just imagine myself doing the same 20 years from now.

                    If I were to explain the ups and downs of my experience in a former-all-girls school and each of the signs I can relate to in nkayesel.wordpress.com,'s post, I'd probably take ages enumerating all the memories I had. But I am very thankful because my school life is one of the reasons I am who I am now. It helped me have a better foundation as a person and be a true supergirl, called to serve.
                     

How To Read Minds

It's easy!
It'll just take you a few seconds to learn!

Step 1.
Read this

Done! You read  minds!

:)

Bucketlist: Perform at CCP

          When I was still in Manila, every time we go to my grandfather's office in the Central Bank of the Philippines, we would always pass by the Cultural Center of the Philippines. I was always amazed by the structure of its facade and the beautiful fountain, especially when the colorful lights are on at night. I never had the chance to go inside though. My family would say that the best singing and dancing groups in the Philippines would perform there.

           When I moved to Iloilo, I started doing ballet. One time, I saw one of Ballet Philippines' performances shown on television. Ballet Philippines is one of the biggest and best ballet groups in the country. They were performing at CCP. The production was spectacular. From that moment, it had always been a dream of mine to perform there. 

            Last year, my ballet teacher told me that we will be performing at CCP in October. I was ecstatic. Yay, another item's gonna be checked on my bucketlist! It will really be a huge privelege to perform in the said place. It will be one thing I will cherish forever.

The Next Eminem?

       

        Last summer, I was browsing through the Top 100 songs on Billboard when I saw that Ben Haggerty, famously known as Macklemore, has finally topped the charts with his single "Thrift Shop."

        I'm not a fan of hip hop or rappers but when I read through Macklemore's biography, I got inspired by his determination and hard work to pursue his music career. He started independently releasing music in the 2000s. I love how he did not rely on big managements to control his career. 

         A lot of people today are saying that Macklemore will be the next Eminem. Fact: Macklemore is the only rapper NOT of African-American descent that has been on the Top 5 songs on Billboard, after Eminem of course. For me, Eminem is Eminem and will forever be "The Eminem" and Macklemore is Macklemore and I can't wait to see what else is in store for him in his career.

#2

#1

Bucketlist : To be In A Photo With Luke Hemmings

Detached To The World of the Living

          For our interdisciplinary project, we were to make a documentary about an issue that affects the society nowadays. Our group chose to cover the topic on depression and teen suicide and in the process of making the documentary, I definitely learned a lot and would like to find ways to help  those people going through the certain issue.

        Suicide is defined as the intentional taking of one's life. The person who commits this may see his/her actions as some sort of solution to a severe problem he/she is facing. Suicide is mainly rooted on depression.

        We chose this problem because depression is common nowadays and has affected many people to the point of feeling suicidal and there are many people who have committed and want to commit suicide,which is a bad thing because there are people who have not reached their full potential and they could have been the person to change the world for the better.

         We also made a survey on the topic, to which we made the high school learners in our school answer. As the one who was tallying, I was shocked to see the devastating results. The results show that about 70% of the whole high school community have felt/experienced depression in some point of their lives and about 20% of these people have attempted to take away their lives. Most of their reasons of feeling depressed were about grades and family problems.

               A close friend of mine in Luzon, who's of the same age as I am, luckily allowed me to interview her for my documentary. She suffered depression for 2 years because of feeling like an outcast and bullying, and is currently going to rehab. She tried several attempts to take her life by overdosing herself with pills and cutting. When she was 14, she attempted to take her life by hanging herself and she succeeded.............although, she was revived five hours after her death, thus making the attempt a failure. Now, she has become more positive because of the gift of life God has once again given her. She is also helping other people going through the situations she went went through to regain their self-worth by giving them advice through online support groups.

               We also interviewed a psychologist and she shared to us the behavior changes to watch out for in someone feeling depressed or suicidal because the adolescence is a turbulent time because of the sudden changes in a teenager’s behavior. These include:

• ·        Withdrawal from family and peers
• ·        Loss of interest in previously pleasurable activities
• ·        Difficulty concentrating in schoolwork
• ·        Neglect of personal appearance
• ·        Obvious personality changes
• ·        Sadness and hopelessness
• ·        Changes in eating pattern (sudden weight gain or loss)
• ·        Changes in sleeping pattern
• ·        General Lethargy or lack of energy
• ·        Violent actions, rebellion, or running away
• ·        Drug and Alcohol Use
• ·        Loss of ability to tolerate praise
• ·        Symptoms often related to emotional state (headache, fatigue, stomach aches)

                 Through this making of our documentary, I realized that it is directly affecting society in general because of what it is doing. But often, society just accepts it, unless it is someone very close or important. The effects of suicide the family of the one who has committed suicide is usually the risk of becoming too preoccupied with the reason why they have committed suicide and also denying or hiding the fact of what caused the death, while thinking they might have prevented it. And they are also vulnerable to the many emotions about the situation, helplessness, anger, sadness, longing, and complicated grief.

We also found ways to help:

         1.) Take suicidal behavior or attempts seriously and get assistance quickly. A suicidal teen needs to know that there are people who care and are available to talk to, without passing judgments on his/her feelings

         2.) Don't hesitate to bring up the topic. Your concern will be reassuring and people can take the opportunity to open up about their distress.

         3.) Acceptance is usually the key. If the person feels accepted in society or in a group, they may not feel that they are useless or not welcome and want to end their lives to end the pain they are suffering. Also to see the signs of suicide and be able to talk or help them through whatever is paining them. And also to stop bullying, because it is one of the major factors which make a person commit suicide.

FANFICTION: Fiction about Fiction and Non-fiction

        Nowadays, many people are into a type of fiction that is very mainstream, especially to teenagers or bookworms, and it's called.........

  F A N F I C T I O N.

         Fan-fictions are fiction stories about characters or settings written by fans of an original work, creator or of a real person. For example, when you go on Wattpad or Fanfiction.net, you may see stories about Harry Potter getting pregnant, Edward Cullen singing on Glee, or Harry Styles turning into a boxer. It might seem weird, but they are still fanfics. 

        Did you know that one of the first fanfics ever written was created in the 1830's? It was made by the famous Bronte (BRAHN-tee) sisters. They wrote novels detailing the fantasy adventures of the 1st Duke of Wellington, Arthur Wellesley and his sons, Arthur and Charles. They later focused on Arthur who became a super-heroic figure in the story.

        Since the advent of the World Wide Web, fan-fictions became widespread. According to a survey, fan-fictions comprise one-third of all the contents about books on the Web.

         In my opinion, fan-fictions allow anyone to share the world/s he has created in his/her mind to other people who share the same interests as him/her and it lets us discover more exceptional amateur writers and how unique our imaginations are.

PS. Speaking of fanfics, try reading this romance fanfic on Wattpad. It's the best one I've read so far :)

It Started With A Tweet by messedupbun

Mainstream Hipsterism

HIPSTER [ˈhɪpstə]
noun.
- an individual who rejects "mainstream" culture and embraces and contributes to independent culture and prides himself/herself on this

       A hipster is someone who rejects the established culture and advocates extreme liberalism in lifestyle. Nowadays, when we (especially teenagers) hear the word "hipster", we would associate it to those who wear flower crowns, high-waisted shorts, maxi skirts, John Lennon sunglasses, combat boots, wearing vintage jewelry, and bringing vintage cameras, basically, the people bringing back the fashion of the "hip" people in the 80's.

       I was scrolling through photos on the site WeHeartIt when I realized the irony in "hipsterism" these days, especially in fashion. Let's say one girl started to liberate herself from the mainstream clothes and chose to go vintage and became "hipster", then another girl thinks her hipster style isn't bad so she followed it, and another girl likes it too and follows it too and it goes on and on and on....... and today, most of the teenagers are now going hipster. Here's the irony part; Today, Hipster Culture, which is the reject-the-mainstream-culture culture, became the mainstream culture itself.

        I'm not saying this is a bad thing though. To be honest, I actually like some of the styles the Hipster Culture came up with and I don't know when Mainstream Hipsterism will turn back to Reject-The-Mainstream Hipsterism again. Anyways, through hipsterism, I learned that it's okay to be unique, in a good way of course, because sometimes being unique can influence others to be unique too or just be themselves and do anything that makes them happy and comfortable.

Summer Playlist 2013

          Music has been a huge part of my summer this year. I spent most of my time learning songs on the piano, searching for new songs on YouTube and listening to my favorite artists' songs while reading or drawing. I also downloaded and bought some really good albums which I would love to recommend to you!

Here are the Top 5 albums on my summer playlist:

1. #3 by THE SCRIPT

2. + by ED SHEERAN

3. RED by TAYLOR SWIFT

4. DNA by LITTLE MIX

5. TAKE ME HOME by ONE DIRECTION