Kana Tsugihara: Fantasy teacher

Kana Tsugihara [Tsugihara Kana 次原 かな], born 25. Aug 1984, is a Japanese model. I saw some of her pics today and I particularly liked the one with the glasses. That made me think about a certain group that many people have a crush on. But more about that later, first enjoy Kana's beautiful pics:

I suppose you have already guessed the group I was talking about: teachers. Why do so many people have a crush on this group? Maybe it's because we all go to school and look up to them, admire their knowledge and their ability to convey it to us. We become teenagers and start to fantasize about them, because they're always there, every day. And some really looked good, even if they were much older than us. Why is that so? And have you ever had a crush on a teacher?

[Source of the photos, set open to downloading: here]
[Tiny.link to this post: http://tinyurl.com/MKLsKanaTsugihara]

Love: Teenage dreams vs. adult expectations

A great thing about being an adult is that you become more stable when it comes to love and expectations. I'm now in my late twenties and these are the things that definitely changed since I was a teenager:

1 I won't be in love with someone and not tell them: I remember being a teen and having this 2 years long crush on a class mate. When I finally had the courage to profess my feelings to her, she rejected me. That was painful and threw me even further back. I had some other crushes after that, but I was too much of a chicken to let another girl know how I feel. That changed soon as I became a twen and met my first love. Now, being almost 30, I take the risk quickly. If I like someone, I hint first and if she's responsive, I tell her that I like her. If she also likes me - great. If not - also fine. No big tragedy. In my teen years: A big tragedy!

2 I'm more confident about myself and the way I look: I remember that as a teen I always felt ugly. Well, who hasn't felt that way as a teen, right? It's like the no 1 issue when you're a teen. Seems like as teens we were constantly insecure: One pimple appeared and the whole day was spoilt. One person was spreading a rumour or bitching about you behind your back and you wanted to kill yourself. Yep! Teen years were tough. I can proudly say that I am a happy vet: My wars with my insecurities are over. I do deem myself as somewhere in the middle, though. I'd not say I look like a male model from a Paris fashion show [*I may qualify for the Pasir Ris fashion show, though, hehe], but I wouldn't say I was ugly either. I feel I'm somewhere in between, but I learned to play my charms. I realized that the older you get, the looks become less and less important. Now I feel, if looks are your only asset and you have nothing else, it's just not enough [when I was a teen, it was!]. Now I think a person's character is what makes a person, really. I soooo admire beautiful women (as you may have noticed from my blog), but I always see more than what meets the mere eye. I always imagine that they are kind and polite, lovely, passionate, pure, funny and much more, depends on the photography, the setting and the mood. I like to project my own emotions in them, but I know that I may be wrong. But when it comes to art, there's no right or wrong.... right?

3 I have reasonable expectations for a long term relationship: I admitted many times - I'm a hopeless romantic. Nevertheless, I'm reasonable. I know that, if you want to be with someone long long time, the romantic feelings are not enough. I do enjoy the initial phase of being in love, but that only lasts few months, if you're lucky, maybe a year. But for 5, 10, 20 years or longer, you need to have something more than just a sexual attraction and irrational projections. I try to love the person for who they are, focusing on the character more than the looks. Of course, I can give tons of compliments to the girl I like by telling her she's cute, sexy, gorgeous. Because, frankly, that's how I see her [and the best is, if she has both]. But to seriously consider a woman as my lifetime partner, I focus more on her character. I would want to know stuff like: Are you adaptable and flexible? Are you kind? Are you deep and considerate? What are your interests, passions? Do you cherish family? What are your goals in life? Are you loving and loyal and do you keep your promises? Are you humble and appreciative? If her answers match my expectations, then I will definitely be willing to do a lot to be with her. I'm not expecting a perfect woman, far from that. But after my 3 previous serious relationships didn't work out, I'm just more careful and I guess I've matured. At least I hope so.

How about you? What are your expectations?
How did you change since your teen years?

[Links: Also check Shingo's post on the same topic][Photo modified by me: Source]

Fake commentators

I like to read blogs and comment. I comment a lot. And I also subscribe to follow-up comments, because I like to see what others said and what the blog owner will reply to my comment. So I get a lot of emails every day in my inbox. And sometimes I notice stuff like on the screen caps below. People who copy and paste one and the same comment to various blogs I also follow (call me blog detective, hehe). This guy managed to do that 3 times so far, maybe there'll be more. So check this: Manju's, Mel's and Toothfairy's blog:

No. 1
No. 2
No. 3

Now I wonder. You want to promote your blog, right? You want other bloggers to read your blog, follow you and comment, right? So why do you start with a fake flattery? You clearly didn't read any of these posts, because you use exactly the same comment over and over again and the whole point for you is to lure new readers to your blog. This is very hypocritical, don't you think?

I know Mel and Manju, they are very kind bloggers, who always respond back, so this post is partly written for them to not fall into a trap. And I wrote it also to illustrate this type of behavior, which is happening a lot lately (or maybe I'm noticing it now?). I don't know.

I'm all for promoting your blog. But the best way is to read the blog post and honestly comment on the topic. A good comment will be a better promotion than fake flattery and it will make the other blogger curious about you. So you don't need to link to your blog extra, the link is already in your name.

I'm not claiming that I'm always the perfect commentator. And I know all of you aren't as well. Sometimes we just browse through a post and comment something short. That's legitimate. Sometimes we drop a funny comment or a silly comment without really reading the whole post. Even that's ok. But these copy/paste fake flattering comments are just over the top. Now that's just my opinion.

What do you think?

Update: The person did leave a normal comment on Mel's latest post. Maybe he read my post or maybe he changed his tactics. I don't know, but as for now, he's... busted! :P

Amy Star about hostile people online

My friend Amy Star left a great comment on my blog and I am reposting it here:

"I think that people who are generally hostile online feel powerless in their lives and use the anonymity of the internet to lash out at strangers, because they feel unable to deal with the people they know. Like that troll you mentioned on Twitter today: I'm sure that individual envies anything good in others' lives (like your blog) and tries to trash it. It's a misguided attempt to make her/himself feel better by trying to make others feel worse. These people don't realize that happiness isn't a zero sum game: more happiness for one doesn't necessarily mean less happiness for another. In fact, happiness and love breed more happiness and love. Love is so much more powerful than fear."

She makes good points, right?

Links: [Amy's blog][Amy's Twitter]

Invest in human relations

*Here's a thought I had yesterday. It was part of a long email, so I'm sharing the best part here.

Our lives are short, if you think well. Becoming 30 for me seemed so fast. And I feel 40, 50, 60 will arrive quite as fast, too. Life is short, that's why we need to make the best of it. Maybe a young soul searches, we all search at one point of our lives, but when we find what we were looking for, we have to cherish it. Nothing in this world can be taken for granted. One day you are happy, the next day you can be miserable. People get born, people die. Sometimes I think I must do something extrordinary in life. In the end all the material things fade away, what remains are human relations - bonds between lovers, parents, friends... I have so much to give, so many people to meet, so much to learn. I hope my life will be long enough. I cherish human relations the most in this world. I don't want to be remembered by what kind of car I drove or how big my house was, I want to be remembered as a nice person, as someone who will be missed for who he was: A giving person, a listener, a loyal friend, a good husband, a loving father. These are my goals in life. I do need to have enough resources to take care for me and my future family, of course. But accumulating wealth won't be the most important thing in my life. I will invest in relations. I will build up strong relationships, spread love, be positive. I may not succeed always, but I will learn and hopefully mature in my life.

[Photo by Adrienne L. Malohne: Source]

Lee Hyori: 30 and uberhot!

My favorite Asian pop singer Lee Hyori, born on 10 May 1979, has proved once again that she's the no 1 sexiest Korean (and most likely) Asian singer. She had a concert in China a month ago and I want to share some lovely pics of her here.

Hyori shows that you can be 30 years old and still be the hottest singer and performer in the pool of countless rising stars, especially in Korea.

You doubt? Check these pics! Still doubting?

For me, she's still number one when it comes to sexiness, catchy songs, music videos and on stage charisma. In my opinion, Asian women look the best between 25 and 35 years. Even though it's common in Asian pop industry, that stars, who turn 30, end their music career, Hyori totally breaks that habit. Her 4th solo album is about to be released soon and probably a ton of performances and concerts will follow.

She will again be no 1 in Korea (and Asia) and I can't wait to get my hands on her new album. Good luck, Hyori! Outshine everybody once again. The stage is yours!

Interview before the concert.

Looking hot with those lovely lips.

Paying attention, thinking.

Focusing, tilting the head in a sexy way.

Dilligently answering every question.

And then performing to the fullest.

Being 30 and rocking the stage? No problem for Hyori!

Related: [Hyori Cosmopolitan pics 2009] Source: [Asianfanatics]

Check out my pages: [Exceptional women][My HYORI page]

[Tiny.link to this post: http://tinyurl.com/MKLsHyoriUberhot]

Yao Yao, Taiwanese beauty

Another popular girl in Taiwan

This post is related to my previous one. My girlfriend told me, that there's a girl in Taiwan with a similar look as Elly Tran Ha, the Vietnamese girl I've introduced in my previous post. My girlfriend gave me a link to her photos and it was quite quickly obvious, that they fit in the same type of petite figured beauties with a large chest.

Yao Yao 瑤瑤 (or Guo Shu Yao, Chinese 郭書瑤, as her real name) was born 1990 in Taiwan. She became popular in 2008 as a game show host and due to her curvacious and cute appearance, she became popular online and transferred to TV and modelling. In addition to that, she even released her 1st single in 2009. I guess a career in show business is easier for those who look good, huh?

[SEE ALSO: My Yao Yao photos from Danshui!]

UPDATE: For those who can't get enough of Yao Yao, she now has her own fanpage and blog, how cool is that? :-) The photo above is a screen cap from her personal website named www.iloveyaoyao.com, please check that out, if you're a fan. You can even become a member! Browse through her beautiful photos, see her videos and much much more. But there's even more than that! Wanna read Yao Yao's blog? You can do that now. The blog is in Chinese, but there's many private photos of her, you'll find it here: iamyaoyao.pixnet.net/blog. The one linked below on Wretch, was recently closed. So please go and click on the Pixnet one. Enjoy :-)

Source: [All photos above][Wikipedia (chi)] Links: [Yao Yao's Facebook fanpage]

[BEAUTIFUL WOMEN page][Yao Yao's blog (chi)] [Yao Yao on Flickriver ]

Elly Tran Ha, Vietnamese beauty

Vietnam's internet sensation

Today it's time for a lighter topic. A while ago a female friend of mine shared with me a set of photos of a beautiful Vietnamese girl. Since she also loves to enjoy photos of beautiful women, I was happy to check them out. I was impressed and decided to introduce the young woman to my readers. So today I checked that set again and tried to find out more about that girl. I found out that her name is...

Elly Tran Ha (also known as Elly Kim Hong). She is a half Vietnamese and half Chinese model from Saigon, Vietnam, supposedly born 1987 (her age is disputed). She became popular in 2009, when a known gossip blogger in Vietnam posted some of her pics on his website and her career suddenly skyrocketed. So far, little is known about her, but she became an overnight internet sensation in Vietnam (and in Chinese speaking countries). And if you look at her pics, I suppose you immediately know why.

These photos of her are very popular currently and they're circulating all over the internet. I'm sharing some of them here for you to see. Look at the photos that made Elly an internet sensation:

Beautiful Elly is all natural. She surely was blessed by nature.

Elly is cute, petite and busty. But it's obvious (and probably sad) that she seems to have become so popular solely because of her chest. So now I'm asking you: Why are petite women with a large chest so attractive? And why are people crazy over Yao Yao?

Looks like Elly Tran Ha has some competition. Have you heard of Hoang Bao Tran?

Source: [Photos above] Links: [Beautiful women]
[Elly's Facebook fanpage][Elly on Flickr]

My first experience as a guest blogger

I had the honor to be a guest blogger on the fabulous blog Insomniac Lolita owned by my friend Andhari. It's my first time, so please forgive me my typos and ramblings. I hope it turns out well. I mean, she has currently 270 followers, so I'm a bit nervous. But I feel it will turn out well, because of the topic I chose, hehe [*I'm so smart]. If you want to read that post click here.

So how did I do?

What will happen to blogs in 50 years?

Did you ever think what will happen to blogs, Twitter and Facebook accounts and tons of other websites in 50 years? Can you imagine our blogs being 50 years old with an archive going from the top to the bottom of the whole sidebar? A Twitter account with possibly few hundred thousand tweets? A Facebook account with 1000 photo albums? Or do you think at one point in your life you will stop with all this?

Ok, let's imagine further. This may be a bit sad, so don't read more, if you're a pessimist. Let's imagine that things go the way they go now. All of us, who became blog friends, continue the same way and update the way we do now. Years pass and we really become like a family. One blogger gets married, one gives birth to a baby or becomes a father, another one moves to another coutry, new jobs, new betrayals, sweet vacations, family matters... but then one day it happens:

At one point one of your blog friends dies. Shock! Devastation! Sadness... No more updates in your Google reader. Days pass and the last update becomes older and older... And then you realize: This person is not among us anymore. You have never met them in real, yet you know almost everything about their life, the ups and downs, the happy and the sad moments. For me it would probably be as if I've lost a real friend, even a family member. I hope it doesn't happen any time soon, but I must say I did think about this for a while now. And I wonder what would happen to all the content a person uploaded during their long long (online) life.

Now that I made you emo and spoiled your mood, I'd like to cheer you up! ^^v

Hey! You're young, right? You have a life, right? Then, please, don't think so far. Enjoy your life every day to the fullest! Don't think about what will happen in 50 years! Another week started, many things may piss you off again... but it can't really be that bad, right? You have so many things to accomplish, so many adventures to embark on, so many wonderful moments await you in life. So all I'm asking you now is to drop a cheerful comment and then get outta here and embrace the world :P

[Photo: Source]

I decided to make this special blogroll to promote some of m blogging friends and other blogs I frequently follow. The blogs are listed alphabetically and sorted in groups. I may add or remove blogs through time for various reasons, which I may not disclose to you.

1. TRAVEL, ASIA, PHOTOGRAPHY:

✰ ADE from Japan: FLOATING CAMERA TOKYO - photography in Japan
✰ ENVOY from Malaysia: THROUGH EYES FROM AFAR - about Japan
✰ FUFU from Malaysia: MY SITE.. MY TRAVEL.. MY LIFE.. - life and travel
✰ JAMES from New Zealand: THE GRAND NARRATIVE - social issues in Korea
✰ JOSHUA from USA: JOSH IN TAIWAN - life in Taiwan, photography
✰ KLAUS from Germany: TAIWANREPORTER - excellent observations
✰ LEE from Britain: TOKYO TIMES - photos from Tokyo
✰ NICK TAYLOR from Slovenia/USA: THE TWO HALVES - global, travel
✰ SARAH from USA: SW GRAPHIC - Taiwanese American graphic designer
✰ MICHAEL from USA: METROPOLITICIAN - social issues in Korea
✰ STEVEN from Canada: VIGAR PHOTOGRAPHY - clubbing in Taiwan

2. PERSONAL BLOGS:

✰ ADELINE from Singapore: MY BLACK STILETTOS - her life
✰ ANGELE from Mauritius: LADY ANGELE - life and food
✰ DAISY from Italy: DAISY'S MAD TEA PARTY - books, poems, thoughts
✰ FUI FA from Malaysia: JONG - photography, life, tech stuff
✰ GNETCH from Philippines: THANK GOODNESS... - very funny
✰ JAIMIE from Mauritius: SO FLAWED - photos, her cats, food, life
✰ JESSICA from Malasia: THE JESSICAT - her life, attending events, parties
✰ JOANNA from USA: HAVING MY CAKE - about elements of a woman's life
✰ JOHANA from an island: THE MERCURIAL WIFE - about relationships
✰ KAREN from Canada: KAREN! - beauty, make-up, life, travel
✰ KAREN from USA: ALLURE OF CF BEAUTY - beauty, make-up, life
✰ KIT from Mauritius: KITKATOHOLIC - life, thoughts, musings
✰ KRISSY from Philippines: I AM KRISSY - her life, places she goes
✰ KYM from Canada: PATIKYM - about her life and creative things
✰ LINDA from USA: CURIOUS NOTIONS - life, writing, vlogs, food
✰ LIZZY from Malaysia: BE DE.LIZZY.CIOUS - funny awesome sweeheart
✰ LILY from Taiwan: LILY MURMURS IN ENGLISH - about random things
✰ MANJU from Mauritius: MANJU GONE BLOG - various, from funny to deep
✰ MEL from Philippines: CHINKY MEL'S CORNER - stories from her life
✰ REBEKAH from Canada: READING BETWEEN THE LINES - life
✰ SABRINA from Malaysia: BOOBY RANTS! - life, thoughts, rants
✰ SEAN from Britain: TRIFLEDREAMZ - short stories about women
✰ SELVY from Indonesia: WORLD WITH NO TOGETHER - life
✰ SHARON from Malaysia: LOST... IN TRANSLATION - life, travel
✰ SHINGO from Singapore: CUP OF ICE - health, wealth, happiness
✰ STEFANIE from Malaysia: STORIES OF STEFANIE - life
✰ WENNY from Malaysia: INSIDE MY BUBBLE - about law of attraction
✰ ZELDA from Britain: MY WORD 1 - politics, observations, life
✰ ZEWT from Malaysia: AS ZEWT AS IT GETS - politics of Malaysia

3. NON ENGLISH BLOGS:

✰ LAISAN from Britain [Chinese]: *嘟嘟嘟..傻瓜日記.. - about random things
✰ LILY from Taiwan [Chinese]: LILY'S MURMUR - travel, life, products
✰ RONI from Slovenia [Slovenian]: HAD BLOG - politics, thoughts, media

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Winter is crashing the autumn party

My friends, who don't live in a climate like I, you don't know how lucky you are! I'm talking about Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Mauritius, Philippines, Taiwan, India... Let me shatter few myths: Snow is not romantic! Drinking tea and wearing thick socks is not romantic, too #FML. I'd exchange the climates with you any time -_-

That's how it looks like today, 15. October 2009, blue sky, green...

...and this is how it usually looks in February [taken in 2008]

It looks great today, even the sun is shining... but, it's only 9°C! And now they're showing on TV, that some parts of eastern Europe are already covered by snow. It won't take long and our weather will turn into bleak gloomy grey sky like seen on the second picture. I've spent last winter in Malaysia, so that will be my first winter in two years and I sooooo don't look forward to that. Please, someone, buy me an airticket to a warm place. I wanna sip cocktails on the beach not drink tea wrapped in a blanket.

Please, get me out of here... -_-

About followers and followers

Do I have the Twitter blues? Because sometimes I wonder why some people communicate on Twitter with me, yet find it hard to follow me. Are my tweets so annoying? I've seen worse ;-)

I have this policy on Twitter: Unless it's a news source or celebrity, I would follow people who communicate with me at least sometimes. I mostly add bloggers, because it's the easiest way to connect outside the blogosphere. You can exchange links, ideas, thoughts. It's fun. :-)

I guess everybody has a group of people (twiens, friends) to chat with daily and a bunch of news sources and random people to chat with occasionally. I try to keep my number low, because I want to connect with those who I want to follow. But I'm pretty open-minded when it comes to adding people. Just talk to me, I'm nice. I would always reply back [*unless you're a spam bot] and I would follow you back, if you seem friendly and really interested in getting to know me. I delete spammers immediately, but sometimes some random [*real] people follow me, but never @me. I don't block them, but I don't follow back either.

But recently I decided to unfollow some people who silently unfollowed me and I deemed them as twiens. That's no biggie. It's a free #tworld ;-) Like in real life, people come and go, so that's nothing special. Same goes for blogging. Followers come and go... So may I: I may come, I may go. In the blogosphere I usually give more than I recieve, but now I need to focus on those who give me the same attention that I give to them (be it on Twitter or blogs). Some people could be more appreciative, I guess, but then again, I live by my standards and they live by theirs. So..., whatever. To each his own [*my favorite saying for online issues].

[*Don't we all have some complaints about twitteres and bloggers? Hehe...]

Ok, a serious question: What are your blog or Twitter policies regarding following and commenting?

[Photo: My cat on my bed while I'm tweeting. She doesn't really care about Twitter]

Obama won the Nobel peace prize!

This was just wow! Barack Obama won the Nobel peace prize 2009! I happened to watch it live on TV, when they announced it and I pride myself as being the first who broke the news on Twitter (I'm so FOM, I know, hehe). Anyway, the initial reactions on Twitter were funny, like: "What did he do???" Duh! Imagine Sarah Palin near the Oval office? Ok, joking aside, let's see some tweets:

• PepeEdwardson WTH! US President Obama received Nobel Peace Prize???? No year in oval office and....? Whtas Wrong Sweden!?

• Syler_mi4 #Obama is first US President to win a nobel prize while still in office. not to mention that he hasnt completed a year in office.

• Karmapriya U.S. President Obama has won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize for extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy.

• karr1 Why O Why did we give #Obama a #Nobel price? He hasn't done anything special yet, has he?

• kimbabim Obama just won the Nobel peace prize? Wow. Crazy. Didn't expect that at all. Isn't that a little early? #obama #nobelprize

• mainewolfie CNN Breaking news - President Obama has won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. FOR DOING WHAT??

My point of view: First of all, who cares why? Seriously. It's not Obama's "fault" to get this award. If you have complaints, send them via Oslo. If I was American, I would be proud. I mean, it won't hurt your country, will it? It can only make your image abroad better. You were pretty much hated by all over the world during Bush's 2 terms. Plus this award may be like a reminder for Obama to keep his promises and end wars and don't start new wars and to engage in peace efforts in Israel, Darfur and elsewhere in the world. It's a good signal. But I can imagine the rightwingers freaking out and finding new ways to mock Obama.

Anyway, congratulations mr. President and congratulations USA.

I am not a ghost man

I didn't colonialize the East, I didn't enslave the South, I didn't conquer the West.

I was born human. You say I was born white. I may look different than you, but I'm just like you. I don't see colors, I see people. And I'm friendly to anyone who's friendly to me.

It's not my fault that people who belonged to the same race as I commited so many crimes against humanity in the past. It's not my fault that people who belong to the same race as I think they're superior to other races. I won't be responisble for future crimes comitted by people who belong to the same race as I.

I am not an ambassador of my race abroad, nor am I an ambassador of my continent, my country, my hometown, my age group, my gender.

I am my own ambassador.

So how about instead of calling me khawaga, farang, barang, gwailo, angmoh, laowai, atoka, gaijin, kojangi, mat salleh, bule, puti... call me by my name?

[Photo taken in Penang, 2007]

Dreams can come true

My dreams will come true.

[Photo: Source]

Who are you really?

"The ugly and the stupid have the best of it in this world. They can sit at their ease and gape at the play."

Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

Have you ever looked in the mirror and asked yourself Who am I really in a brief moment, where time and space seemed to disappear and you suddenly felt that you're the main character in a movie and your whole life is the setting?

It happened to me a while ago before brushing my teeth. I was very tired. I looked at the mirror with my weary eyes and drowsy head and I suddenly started gazing at my face. I thought: Is that me? Is that how others see me? Who am I? Am I beautiful? Can I be beautiful to others? So many questions running thru my head in that moment. In order to get my senses back, I had to shake my head. I brushed my teeth and went to bed.

But the questions remained. Especially How do others see me is a permanent one. It's a question that helps me to behave well and to be respectful and mindful of others. Don't we all want to look good in the eyes of others? And it doesn't mean we're overly vain, it's a normal human condition, both sociological and biological. Of course, if you overdo it, the result will be the opposite. People will realize you try too hard and you're being fake. So you need to find a balance between careless and fake. I think most people are somewhere inbetween (including myself).

But for the new generation, the internet became a pool of vanity. Suddenly everyone's a model, we all pose, we all put the cutest, the prettiest, the handsomest pics on our Facebook profile. We're all fashionable, we're all sociable, we're all smart (thanks Google and Wikipedia), we're all the coolest peeps in every story we post on our blogs and so on... We can create a whole virtual identity, an altered one (a fake one?), an exaggerated one, but that won't change who we really are. Of course I'm not talking about everyone, but about those who are trying too hard. Be it online or offline, we can't play a role 24/7. At one point we have to face ourselves. We have to look in the mirror. It's a sobering and humbling moment.

Even Michael Jackson once sang: I'm starting with the man in the mirror, I'm asking him to change his ways...

So... who are you really?

[Photo: My sunnies]

Yui vs. Girls' Generation

The reason for this post is very simple: I had a discussion yesterday with my female friend about women's thighs. She says strong thighs are not sexy and she wants to keep hers thin, while I said I prefer strong over thin and that hers look good the way the are [*ah, women!]. The same day, my other friend Hwan gave me a link to a video of the girl on the left: Yui. She's a singer of the popual Korean girl group after school [애프터스쿨] and she's currently one of the hottest Korean girls in the showbiz [*still not hotter than Hyo-ri, I may add]. Anyway, Hwan told me, that Koreans call her "Kkulbeokji", which means something like "thighs sweet like honey." To get a better idea of that, please check the embedded video below. When my friend saw that video, she was like: OMG, her thighs look like mine. She always mentions another Korean girl group Girls' Generation [소녀시대], that consists of 9 girls, who are famous for having very thin and long legs and she wants to have legs like them. If you want to have a better image of that, check their latest video Genie. The girl on the right photo is a member of this group: Jessica. Now you can compare these two girls and answer a general question:

What kind of women's thighs do you prefer: Strong or thin?

My friend and I have a bet, so I'd really appreciate your feedback on this one. Keep in mind, we're talking about strong, not fat thighs. My friend is Taiwanese and it seems that the very thin legs are deemed beautiful there. And what she considers strong, is considered thin in Europe. So, before you comment, keep in mind, that we're debating Asian and not Western norms.

You said: Strong (5) - Thin (3) - Depends (2)

Yay, I win! :-P

[Ps: I admit, this was a silly post. What the heck, it's just for fun ^_^][Yui photo: Source, Jessica photo: Source]

October is here! Hope lives on.

October
And the trees are stripped bare
Of all they wear
What do I care
October
And kingdoms rise
And kingdoms fall
But you go on

by Bono Vox, U2 (Video)

September is over! Finally. And what can I say, it was one of the best months of this year for me. It hasn't been so good since my trip to Hong Kong in January and the Chinese new year celebrations in Malaysia soon after, with the countless sleepless nights playing mahjong. After I returned back to Europe, things have gone pretty bad and the hardest part was the break up. I needed few months to find some meaning in my life. I blogged a lot, tweeted a lot and at least it helped me to ease my pain. It was totally therapeutic, but it worked. And then came September, a month to remember. I found my happiness again. I felt special again, valuable and needed again. It's not as if my whole circumstances changed, basically I am in the same position as I was before. The only difference is, my views shifted. I am positive. I have hopes and dreams. I believe in love again. I have ambitions. I want to travel, learn, evolve. I want to experience so much and I feel confident in achieving all the goals I set for myself in September. And now it's October. And I feel it can only get better. Maybe the beginning and the end of this year will make it up for the horrible in-between time, that made my life so difficult this year. I am hopeful.

How was your 2009 so far?

[photo taken near my house]