I leave the lights on

Hello hello,

Again I will start this post with a complaint about the weather ( because how boring I can be?), but winter has officially come to Melbourne and it is freezinggggg, Everything is gloomy and too cold to touch, to the point that if you walk into my room all you can see is a weird-shaped burrito of me and my blankets lying on the floor because I am too lazy to climb on bed. Ha.

It is Friday night and I was supposed to be at a club dancing my heels off with friends but somehow at the last minute all I want was to be back to my cuddly burrito and eat instant noodle. So I cancelled my presence to the world and here I am, living the life I want. Because duh I am a strong active woman. I GET WHAT I WANT! Bahaha

Anyway this is the last week of the semester, and yesterday I went to the last class of my Melbourne university life. It really hasn't hit me yet, that in just a blink I will be sobbing and waving goodbye to everyone here. Yet in other hand somehow I am really excited to throw my arms around Hanoi again, to be showered with love and new possibilities. There are so many things I want to do when I am back, so many people to meet and so many stories to hear.
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Ohhh ohhh I haven't told you about the 1920 party I mentioned here last time. Here was my outfit:

I honestly hope that none of you will be scared because of this. If you do, my sincere apology. I'm pretty scared myself too.

So yeah I put on pretty heavy make up to get that ~glorious~ vibe. I wore a kimono robe outside a black dress, and a supposed-to-be-pearl necklace. I guess this is my weirdest outfit to date, and I bet I did make someone having a slight heart attack to see my blurry white self floating in the dim light of the party. Nobody thinks it is 1920s either, ugh, I have proof!

Duh I obviously was so 1920s

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Recently somehow I always pick something philosophical to read. First it is a manga called "Oyasumi Punpun", or "Goodnight Punpun". Well, here is a warning folks, this manga is very depressing and heavy to read, very graphic as well, unlike anything I have ever touched, and not something I would recommend to everyone even though it is indeed very, oh wait I can't think of any words to describe this. Very strange, bizarre, thought provoking and basically can make you depressed for days. It deals with very heavy subjects and approaches it in extreme ways. I tend to really like depressing stuff (oh well..), but this is even more than that. So yeah, beware!

The other thing I have just finished is "The stranger" by Albert Camus. Philosophy stuff again but not too heavy to read. But since I am not a fan of philosophy, I am not a huge fan of the book either. Still pretty interesting to know about all that and adopt some words that sound soooo intelligent like "the philosophy of absurdity", "existentialism" so I can flick my fingers and be smart as hell but yeah, that's about that. I don't really want to depress myself thinking of the world all over again.

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I know I haven't done any fashion-related stuff for ages. I am trying to figure out how to utilise my camera, too tired of crappy quality photos. And since I have a little more free time now until finals, there will be no more excuse of being "busy". Hope that I can pick my ass up and start doing something productive tomorrow.

Oh and, a sneak peak of my project:

What do you guys think about the layout? I think it looks kinda boring there, but still don't know how to fix it. Anyway, more to come for sure!

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I can't find a song I really want to post on the blog so here is something equally great. I have spent the whole day listening to poems on Youtube, and it seriously broke me into pieces and moved me so so so much. Here are some of my favourites, I hope you like them as much as I do:

Neil Bilborn - OCD

Kattie Makkai - Pretty

Patrick Roche - 21 

That's for now. Have a lovely weekend weirdos x

One photo every hour - Friday

Inspired by one of my most favourite blogs ever Niotillfem, I will start doing "One photo every hour" kind of posts now and then from now on. I know, I am not that famous or have anyone to care what I do for a day haha but still, it is pretty fun to do. So, ta-dah, this was my Friday. As you may know from my last post, every Friday I would go to brunch with Lan Anh. But she was sick this week so I was left alone with all those free time to spare. Hence, a date with myself it is:

10:30 am - I woke up at 9:30, read some blogs and spent an hour rolling around (literally, my blog name does not just come out of nowhere..) and finally was able to get out of bed, grumpily. 

11:30 am - Had a quick lunch and made myself ready for going out. Had a bad hair day today, my bang just went everywhere :(

12:30 pm - Out of the house! This was from a house on my way to the station. Everytime I walked past here I thought this was so cute I had to take a photo of it. Finally I did hehe.

2 pm - Forgot to take a photo at 1pm haha. I came to City, pick up a latte and went to the City Library. Does this page look familiar to you? I saw it everywhere on Tumblr so decided to borrow it. It is "The Unwritten Rule" by Elizabeth Scott, a easy young adult read. A lot of part in the first few chapters made my stomach twist because I can related to all those things a lot (Unrequited love? Hello? Just totally Khoai's major)

3 pm - Still reading but changed my spot to the second floor.

4 pm - I decided to take a walk in the park because the weather was so so soooo good. Got myself a cinnamon waffle from "Waffle and Coffee" and it was yummy enough to keep me happy for the rest of the afternoon haha. Food is always good.

5 pm - It was chilly outside so I went to try out Mr. Tulk Cafe. I am in that period of lets-try-every-good-coffee-place-in-Melbourne lol. Still reading but then the place got more and more crowded.

6 pm - Left the cafe to come to the uni campus.

7 pm - So we got that thing called "Tune it in" every Friday. I don't go there that much cause I can't sing :( But still it is good to meet everyone once in a while. Okay I am lying, most of the time I just stayed silent and looked at my phone because I didn't know what to do.. But then some of my bros came and we had funnn.

I didn't take any photos after this haiz, promise it will be better when I am more familiar with it. After Tune it in I hang out with the bros. We bought some juice mix alcohol thingy and came back to school to drink. And then I came home, drank some more because it was my housemate's birthday. And now it is 4:20am and I can't sleep.. Mental note, do not take more than 1 cup of coffee a day.

Okay it is wayyy late now and I should better sleep. Insomnia has been acting up again lately and that's definitely not something nice. Byeeeeee, have a lovely weekend! 

PS: Also I am doing a little personal photo project, will definitely tell you when I am done. I really like it so I hope you will too ~

Update, quick review of the book up there since I has just finished it: well, it is disappointing. Very simple and repetitive, like a Korean drama you just want to scream at because it is sooooo bland. The first few chapters, as I said, was quite good. But the thing I did not anticipate is that those few chapters got repeated and repeated and repeated a lot later on. And the ending, ugh, let's not talk about it. Overall, 1 over 5 is what I rate on Goodreads, I should avoid chick lit from now on ugh.

I've decided to carry home inside me

Dear you,

You would not want to know the amount of unfinished drafts on this blog, hidden notes in my phone and just words scattering everywhere all over the space in my head that I have been meaning to let out. And I have been more and more bothered about how I can never have the courage to publish them but leave them floating and hidden from everyone. I don't really care if someone reads it, because after all only those who really want to know me read this blog. But just the idea of being honest and completely accept who I am is somehow terrifying.

It is not like I will immediately be able to post 10 Facebook statuses a day about, well, life. Or post my selfie on Instagram hoping to get likes. Though I still think it is kinda annoying, now think about it that kind of thing is truly something I can't do, and in some sense it kinda takes courage and a lot of self-love to do that. Unfortunately (and fortunately to my cyberspace friends), I don't have that.

I started this blog with the idea that I will update it with my adventure in Melbourne, or just life in general, like a practice place for my silly writing. And along the way I got interested in movies, and then a little tiny bit of fashion. And somehow to this point there are strangers reading my blog and showing me their love, which I really am soooo grateful about. And there are also friends who say that since I have stopped sharing my thoughts here they don't read it anymore (Yes, you, T, blehhh).

I used to have the dream to make my blog known to others than my friends, that's one of the reason I started blogging more about movies and fashion, to be less-personal. But I guess if I can't even be honest with the blog then what is the point anymore. As some quote on Tumblr "My thoughts are so secret I share them with 17000 people on the Internet", I will start sharing more here, as a way of being more honest with myself. After all talking to a laptop screen is what I do all day anyway haha. It is soothing to know that there is no pressure on finding the right answer, or to put the question on the people you trust enough to talk to. ISN'T THE INTERNET BEAUTIFUL?

Well that's the end of my rambling. Now let's talk a bit about things and then I will awkwardly roll away as usual.

1. Something that made me happy:

Do you have that person who has this special connection with you even though you guys basically never talk about anything? L is that kind of person in my life. We never talk, chat on Facebook even, but in some weird ways we understand each other. I love you dearly L.

2. I got invited to a friend's birthday party and the theme is gonna be the 1920s! My first dress up party ever weeee. I am gonna go hunting for a good dress and some accessories tomorrow at some thrift stores around the neighbourhood. I will make a blog post about that too ughhh Khoai got invited to a party and will socialise with human this is so excitingggg ~

3. One of my best decision in Melbourne is to go to brunch every Friday with Lan Anh. We have done this for just two weeks but everything is so great so far and we get the chance to explore Melbourne and see it as something more fun and interesting than merely walking around the CBD. Last Friday we went to this place in Brunswick and I had the prettiest egg ever:

4. House by the sea: You do have the perfect music taste and great timing, stranger ơi.

Grey matter

Hi there,

It is nearly winter here in Melbourne. My room is freezing 24 hours a day: since I moved to Melbourne I has never been a proud owner of any heater, or fan, or anything that makes life easier. So as usual here I am curling up in layers of clothes and blanket, dancing my way off assignments and eating sweets with hope that it will make me feel better. Another week has passed and I am confident to say I was so busy doing nothing the whole week.

This week is strange, properly because of the weather, properly because I am strange just like that. There is this uneasy feeling burning inside, spreading from my heart to the very tip of my fingers, and toes, and everywhere; for no freaking reason. I tried to talk it out, or call it names, but there is no use defining what it is, that feeling keeps bumping in my chest everyday when I am trying to sleep. I guess sometimes things just kind of bundle up and make a huge rock, uni-stress, coming-home-stress, future-stress, family-stress, relationships-stress.. all that jazz. I also have one explanation that this is caused by me reading Catcher of the Rye and getting in Harold's role, I do that every time I read a book I like. Whatever the reason is I just hope this feeling will go away soon.

A video exhibition in NGV. I walked around alone a lot lately.

And also consume a large amount of tea and biscuit.

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I am planning to do another photoshoot, like the one I did with Linh back then; and this time, it is about me. Which is ultra weird. But since I can't draw, I can't write and I can't sing, I guess all I can do to express some mediocre thoughts of mine is photographing them. But posing in front of Linh's lens is out of the question, and dragging a tripod around the city is also pretty much impossible, or maybe I am just lazy. Oh well, will try to figure it out later.

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WHAT I HAVE BEEN WATCHING:

Weeee it has been so long since my last movie review yeah? To be honest for some reasons I have lost all confidence in using my words to analyse movies, they are simply not good enough. But after all what I do here is simply expressing myself, so I guess I will just need to try to improve.

1. The Grandmaster

For me, a Wong Kar Wai movie is guaranteed for perfect cinematography and emotional frames, yet I was so used to his way of seeing things in small details like in Chunking Express and In the Mood for Love I didn't expect The Grandmaster to be THAT epic. Everything. Don't be decieved by that boring poster that it is just your normal kung-fu movie, because it is way wayyyy more than that.

In short, The Grandmaster is about the life of Ip Man - the Grandmaster of Wing Chung, you know, a type of kung-fu. Hummm how can you describe a Wong Kar Wai movie, because it is never about the story but the movement, the glorious colour of every scenes, the shivering feel in every touches of the actors.. My favourite scene is this one, is it just me or this is supposed to remind you of "The Last Supper"?

However, this is not my favourite movie of Wong Kar Wai to be honest, the winner is always In the Mood of Love. There are parts of this movie that I can't comprehend, like who is that guy in White Rose Barber, and the parts with Ip Man's wife as well, she just kind of fade out in the second half of the movie. But still, The Grandmaster is an awesome, jaw-dropping beautiful movie.

2. The Vow

Ehhhh, in my defences, I certainly am not a fan of cheesy chic flick movies, so it is expectable that I don't like this. The Vow is about this happy, totally utterly in love couple. One day the wife lost her memory and the whole movie is the story of how the husband trying his best to make she remember him and their glorious love again.

To be perfectly honest, in my opinion this movie is made just to show how hot Channing Tatum is and how beautiful Rachel McAdams is, that's all. The plot is way too Disney-like and some parts are just simply not logic (she doesn't know him, remember, why the hell would she go skinny dipping with someone she doesn't know?). I don't know, properly too cheesy for me. But even when compared to other romantic movies like About Time, this is still, like, meh.

3. It's Kind of A Funny Story

A pretty good movie for teenager, reminds me of "The Art of Getting By". This film talks about 16-year-old Craig and his short time in a mental hospital. What I like about this is that how it portrays the people in the hospital are just all funny, considerate and lovely like "people from outside". And the way the film ends as well. They didn't end it with the cliche "through this experience I am cured and become a good citizen of the world" like most teenage movies, Craig wasn't "cured", he helped others, and from that he learnt to become better. I always like the process than the result.

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There is someone that has been sending me beautiful music on ask.fm, and then I reply them with a song. I try to make that a conversation (as in the lyrics / mood of the songs are like continue each other) but I don't know if the asker notice haha. Anyway, thank you, whoever you are, your taste on music is awesome. I am dying to know who you are and just have a music-trading-conversation on Facebook or something, so please do contact me, I may look weird but I don't bite I promise hehe.

Anyway, An (flxxsh) introduced me to Frank Ocean and I am totally charmed. The flow and his voice feel like melting in each other. Not the kind of music I normally listen to but good music is always good: