Toy Story in Hong Kong!

In a few days, the little girl will be in Hong Kong! I'm so excited and I've started my countdown a month ago.

I've been to Hong Kong many times in my life. What's special this time is that I'm going back to Disneyland for the second time! Disney had increased its ticket rates since August (from HK$350 to HK$399), but I'm excited to see what the park has to offer in its 5th year anniversary this year. A new "land" - Toy Story Land - has been opened to the public a month ago. As a huge fan of Toy Story, I can't wait to see the newest land.

I saw on Facebook a few months ago about the launching of Bossini's Toy Story merchandize. Aside from the cute product designs, Bossini had also decorated its stores with huge Toy Story characters. Kids would surely enjoy shopping there! I’m not sure if Bossini is still selling those Toy Story products though.

I don't know what’s with Toy Story in Hong Kong. Toy Story seems to be everywhere in Hong Kong! If you've read my post Where to Go in Hong Kong Part 2 in mytravel blog, you'll know that I visit Harbour City each time I go to Hong Kong. This Christmas, Toy Story is the theme of the mall! It has a huge Christmas tree built with hundreds of tiny Squeeze Toy Aliens. There are also Toy Story characters outside the Ocean Terminal where you can pose and take a picture beside those endearing characters.

As I’m dying to go to Hong Kong, I’ve edited a picture I got from Harbour City’s Facebook page. Try to spot the little girl in the picture!:P

I’ll post some pictures when I get back from Hong Kong. Stay tuned!

For more details, visit Harbour City’s official website or its Facebook page.

Our Mini Rice Cooker Made Our Lunch Much More Pleasant

I don’t like eating cold dishes. It feels uncomfortable filling my empty stomach with cold food. That’s why I hate lunch. My family brings food to work, and when it’s time to eat, my appetite is gone with just the first bite. I tend to eat less during lunch. Most of the time, we’ll just buy our lunch outside. But it hurts our pockets and the food gets cold before the clock strikes 12 anyway.

Twilight Saga Fanart

I guess everyone must have heard about the Twilight Saga. It’s a hit film series based on the Twilight novels written by Stephanie Meyer. Since most young people are crazy about it (and its fourth movie instalment has just been released recently), I’ve made these drawings depicting the three main characters of the books/movies. The style of these drawings is based on my artworks posted on this blog. I don’t know how to use sophisticated softwares so I just used Paint. I hope you recognize these characters LOL. Happy viewing!

Bella Swan

Edward Cullen

Jacob Black

Meiji Ice Cream Bar

Meiji Milk Cookie Ice Cream Bar

If you’re bored or feeling stressed, you can enliven yourself by doing something different. Why not start with eating something new? Meiji ice cream bar is a novel snack to me.

My sister bought this milk cookie ice cream bar for me a couple of weeks ago. As twins, we would always eat our snacks together, especially those that we haven’t tried before. I had been looking forward to tasting this yummy-looking ice cream. Unfortunately, my sister got sick so we weren’t able to eat it right away.

A Bad Day

It’s forty-six days before Christmas. My family has started to buy gifts for our clients. Every Christmas, we’ve always bought brandy for our clients. This year, apart from brandies, we decided to buy cocktail juice for our female (or non-drinking) clients. We have already bought boxes of brandies last month. I accompanied my mom this afternoon to buy cocktail juice. I’ve heard that it costs only Php143 in Mandarin Supermarket (Ongpin) compared to S&R and Landmark (Trinoma), which cost Php154 and Php157, respectively.

read full article on The Little Girl's How to Save Blog

Thoughts on Halloween

the little girl (right) freaks out as she comes face to face with a ghost

I know it's kind of late, but... I'd like to post something Halloween-related here. It is still November after all.;)
November is one of my most anticipated months. Unlike in the West, we Filipinos don't dress up as fairies, zombies, or ghosts and walk in the streets. Mostly, it's only kids (or mall staffs) who dress up in costumes. Kids in costumes would flock to the malls and bring their pumpkin baskets from store to store and yell "trick or treats!" Hey, maybe I can wear a mask and pretend to be a tall kid. I should have thought about that earlier!

Happy Birthday Judy and Janine

I drew this picture as a present to a set of twins, Judy and Janine, whom I have never met.
The picture shows Judy sending a bird to Janine, her deceased twin, with a birthday present. They're wearing matching clothes, like what they used to do while Janine was still living.
I want to wish my Blogger friend Judy and her twin sister in heaven, Janice, a happy happy birthday!

It is the Normal Thing to Do

Yesterday, the Chinese girl who was involved in a hit-and-run case a week earlier had just died. It was a sad news. Her injuries were so severe that whatever the doctors did could not save her. One of the drivers had been caught; and the other one had voluntary surrendered to the police. One of them showed remorse for his crime. Meanwhile, none of the passers-by would admit about their cold-heartedness. One even reportedly said that he did not see the girl because it was too dark. Another one said that if he had seen the girl, he would have saved her.

The Little Girl Cries for the Little Chinese Girl

Today, I just saw a very disturbing footage of a hit-and-run case involving a Chinese toddler. The two-year-old girl was walking alone (probably just outside her home) when a van ran over her. While she was still breathing and struggling, the child was then ran over by a truck. The most alarming part is 18 passers-by had turned a blind eye, as shown in the video. They were walking just a few inches from her! I’m not aware for how long, but after some time, a garbage collector pulled her to the sidewalk and started looking for the child’s mom. Her mom finally arrived and rushed her to the hospital. The girl was reportedly brain dead. The father, in tears, was begging for kind-hearted people to help him find the drivers who did that to his daughter.

Free Items

My family loves free things and giveaways. We tend to buy products bundled with free items even if we don’t need either of them. Earlier this year, we saw an advertisement of Time Magazine. The ad said that by subscribing for either a year or two, we can avail a Time travelling bag and a Time wristwatch! My dad was drooling for the giveaways. He convinced us to subscribe, saying that by doing so, we could save half the price of the magazine. Each issue costs P120. The one year subscription (with a total of 54 issues) costs P3,132. My dad added that my sister loves reading Time. She would buy it everytime she sees it in the mall. She retorted that we don’t need that much issue and not every issue is interesting for us. Despite our reluctance, we agreed. We purchased the one-year subscription using my dad’s credit card.

An Uneventful Double Ten Day

Today is Double Ten Day! It is the national day of the Republic of China that is primarily celebrated in Taiwan. What’s more special is this year marks the 100^th year celebration of the national day. As I am typing this entry, my mom is watching the news from Taiwan. Some of our Chinese family friends went to Taiwan to witness this unusual event.

Since this is a very special and rare event, some couples had chosen to get married today. More than 300 pairs are wedded in Taiwan. Another unusual event today is the birth of a girl to Taiwanese parents who were married on September 9, 1999 (9/09/99). How remarkable is that?

Goodbye Steve Jobs

First of all, I don't use Apple products. I find them too expensive. Even so, Steve Jobs' death really saddens me. I don't know anything about his personal life. All I know is that he is a great innovator.

I drew this picture as a tribute to this great man. Goodbye Steve Jobs. The world will miss you.

The Little Girl Will Stand Taller

September is about to end. It is quite a stressful month for me. On September 10, one day prior to the 10^th year anniversary of 9/11, I was banned from Google Adsense. Here’s the email I had received from the giant Google:

What the Little Girl Likes Most About Korea

cheerfulnuts wearing Sungkyunkwan scholars' outfit

I went to South Korea a couple of years ago. I wouldn’t forget the time when we went to Ginseng Museum. After the tour guide explained to us a few things about ginseng, she asked us, “What do you like most about Korea?” No one in my group answered, so I was very tempted to blurt out, “Korean boys!” That would surely make everyone in the room laugh. But I didn’t say anything and the tour guide continued her speech. I didn’t want to embarrass myself. And that wasn’t true anyway.

The Little Girl Lost Her Photos

I just lost some of my precious memories.

On one fateful day, when I was about to publish an article about my vacation in Japan, I went to my drawers and took out my DVD where all my photos had been stored. I inserted it in my optical drive and went over my hundreds of photos in Japan. My sister saw the pictures and asked me to give her the DVD after I had finished so she could upload some of them on Facebook.

What the Little Girl is Up To

I've created a new page on my blog entitled "Gallery." It contains some of my drawings. I'll be updating it from time to time! :) Check it out!
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It's been a while since I've written here. I've been writing an article on HubPages about my experience in the land of the rising sun. It took me about a week to finish it. The little girl is a slow writer. LOL.
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I've been watching a Korean series entitled Sung Kyung Kwan Scandal. I REALLY love it! It's taking too much of my time! I can't wait to watch it. Got to go now. Maybe I'll write an entry about it. :D

The Little Girl Tweets

Illustration by cheerfulnuts

When my friends had started creating their Facebook account, I created my own too. I enjoy the features that are only unique to Facebook. I like the idea of seeing what everyone’s up to without having to go to their profile. I love the games. However, there’s one feature on Facebook that I had refrained from using – the status. Every time I signed in, the first thing that would pop to my screen is the question “What’s on your mind?” I've always avoided that textbox. I’m not that comfortable sharing what’s on my mind with hundreds of friends. I have no idea what I can put in that white box that is okay with me to share with everyone.

The Ugly Haircut of the Little Girl

Illustration by cheerfulnuts

As a child, I had always worn my hair short. My parents believed that short hair is cuter and easier to maintain. As girls, my sister and I would spend quite some time in front of the mirror. We wanted to look as pretty as possible. Every morning, my parents would impatiently tell us to hurry. They are the most punctual people on earth, and running late to school was the last thing they’d want to happen. As months passed, it took us longer to fix our hair. Then, the dreaded words would come out from my dad’s mouth,

The Little Girl has Perfect Hands

One of my high school teachers told us, "The most beautiful hands on earth are those of a mother's hands." She explained that a mother's hands had roughened for all the house chores she'd done. Despite the roughness of her hands, they are still beautiful, and always will. I had always remembered those words, and I wanted to have those set of hands.

The Little Girl's Encounter with a Creep

My family decided to watch the final instalment of Harry Potter after almost a decade of not watching in a movie house as a family. We met with my sister’s friend to watch the movie together. It was still early, so we strolled around the mall. We decided to go to Timezone to kill time. My sister and her friend were playing something similar to Guitar Hero as I looked on. I was standing behind them. My mom watched them momentarily but went to a bench after she got bored. My dad would come to watch them briefly while his arm was wrapped around my shoulders. He left, too, to look for a place to smoke. I didn’t leave and I watched the screen while silently laughing at the mistakes they’ve made. Then, I felt someone behind me.

The Little Girl and Her Credit Card

A few years ago, the little girl got her very first credit card. She wasn't really excited and kept it hidden inside her drawer for months. Actually, she wasn't fond of these cards. She was afraid to lose her card and let some bad guys use it. However, it still isn't practical to bring thick bundle of cash everyday.
Yesterday, she had read this helpful article about credit cards. She wants to share it with you (yes, you!;D). It's just a short article, so please, do not be discouraged to read it. Let us be careful and let us discourage the bad guys from stealing our hard-earned cash.
Now, the little girl can finally use her credit card without worries!

The Little Girl Has Grown Up

I haven’t been here for quite some time now. I’ve been busy and I am still trying to adjust to my new schedule.  Just last week, I’ve decided to get up two hours earlier than my usual waking hour. For a little girl, this is quite challenging. Those who personally know me are pretty much aware how hard it is to wake me up. This is a life-changing decision for me. I don’t want to feel or appear lazy anymore for sleeping too much. The little girl wants to turn over a new leaf!

Actresses From The Past

By Wikimaxxx (Own work) [FAL], via Wikimedia Commons

While I was channel surfing, I saw one of Judy Garland's old movies. She was so pretty. I googled her and found out it was her 89th birthday yesterday! She died at age 47 due to an accidental drug overdose. How come it was always the cause of death among celebrities? Anyway, I've only seen one movie of hers - The Wizard of Oz. It's a 1939 film where she starred as Dorothy Gale, a role she is widely known for.

My Skin's Story

 http://www.dreamstime.com/free-stock-image-face-pack-rimagefree795742-resi3471639

When I was in high school, I had a terrible case of acne. It was not the most severe case of acne, but among my female classmates, I had the most pimples on my face. It had affected my confidence and self-esteem. My pimples looked more visible with my light skin tone. I did not visit a dermatologist that time, because it is "normal" for teens to have acne due to hormonal changes. Still, I can't help but feel jealous of my classmates,
who mostly had smooth glowing skin.

My "Sensitve" Article on HubPages

It's been a long time since I've posted here. I've been busy with HubPages lately. I found the site's "HubPages Ad Program" wonderful! Before that program was activated, Hubbers (authors in HubPages) monetize their hubs through Google Adsense, eBay, Amazon, and Kontera. In my first two months of being a Hubber, I've earned $0.08 from Google Adsense. Upon seeing my very small earning, I got a bit excited. It was my first time to earn online anyway! But as days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months, my earnings didn't seem to budge. Though I've published only a handful of hubs, I've been trying my best to write quality articles in the shortest time possible. I've put most of my concentration on HubPages. I got a little bored when nothing seemed to improve. Even my followers never seem to increase.

The Little Girl was Awarded the "Versatile Blogger" Award

I would like to thank my new blogger friend, Sharlot, for granting me the Versatile Blogger Award through my post "Please Make This Little Girl Happy"! Hurray! I felt like winning the lottery! Anyway, here are the rules of the said award:
1. Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them in your post.
2. Tell us seven things about yourself.
3. Award fifteen recently discovered new bloggers.

Please Make This Little Girl Happy

This morning, I found out that my article "Where to Go in Hong Kong" in HubPages got a "Hubnuggets" nomination! I am really excited. Hubnuggets is an award given to high quality "hubs" or articles written by new hubbers (like me!) and contain lots of useful and interesting information, pictures, or videos. Winning hubs will be featured on the next HubPages newsletter issued weekly. Please vote for my article! Kindly go to the link provided here, scroll down and look for "The Travel and Places Nominees" heading. You will see a list of links to nominated articles and a capsule at the right side where you can cast your votes (one vote per category). Nonmembers can also vote! It will be a nice birthday gift to me! Please make the little girl happy! Thanks and have a nice day.

Update: I have moved my article to my new blog Where to Go and What to Do. Check it out!

Ghost in the Hotel Room?

Photo by thisisbossi on flickr.com

Have you stayed in a hotel with ghosts? If so, is the hotel a reputable one? Is it old? Does anyone else know about it? How was the encounter?
There are rumors that Park Lane Hotel, which is located at tourists-packed Causeway Bay in Hong Kong, is haunted by ghosts. Coincidentally, that is the hotel where I stay whenever I visit Hong Kong. I learned about the ghosts from relatives who've also been there. 

The Little Girl at Ocean Park

I'm scared of heights. I had always dreamt of falling down the stairs as a child. I could not go down the stairs without holding onto the handrail or grabbing onto someone. When there's nothing to hold onto, I would bend my body forward like an old lady. I remember one time when I had to climb the wide stairs that lead to a certain Chinese temple. My family was ahead of me. I was so scared that I hunched over the steps and my hands had almost touched the ground. I saw some tourists looking at me curiously.

Why You Should Not Ignore Flyer Distributors

What do you do when someone hands you a flyer on the streets or in the mall? Do you take it or ignore it? I encounter people who distribute flyers every single day. A building is being built near where I live, and the realty company is quite aggressive in their marketing. They have a showroom near my home; they hire young and good-looking people as agents; they put ads both in English and Chinese newspapers; they posted a couple of youths outside their showroom to distribute flyers from morning 'til afternoon. I usually avoid flyer distributors, because when I do take their flyers, I will either throw them away afterwards or add them up to my mountain of clutter at home.

ADHD is NOT "KSP"

For the sake of non-Filipino speakers, kulang sa pansin (literally means lack of attention) a.k.a. KSP, is a phrase used to describe people who want to grab other people's attention. What they do to attract people's attention varies. They may sing loudly at public places, moonwalk in the middle of the street, or even dress up as vampires at malls. These attention-grabbing actions can be done not only to attract strangers, but also parents, siblings, friends, classmates or co-workers, teachers, bosses, or a crush.

The Horror of a Lollipop

photo by jelene on flickr.com

As a child, I had rarely eaten cakes, chocolates, and candies compared to other kids. I prefer salty foods. But sometimes, I just couldn't resist lollipops. I don't know if it's the sweetness, the color, or the stick inserted to candies that made lollipops so appealing.

Anyway, I've heard a weird news today regarding lollipops. A teenaged boy was rushed to the hospital after eating a lollipop. His lips were terribly swollen. How could a harmless lollipop do this to a boy?

The Pig That I Love

As iPhone and iPad users multiply, Rovio developed a game called Angry Birds. The protagonists are the angry yet cute little wingless and feetless birds. Their eggs were stolen by the pigs, and the birds want payback. The game's goal is to destroy all the pigs, using birds and slingshot as weapons. Aside from the Apple gadgets, the game can also be played with smartphones, computers, gaming consoles, and soon, on Facebook (as if Farmville has not been keeping us busy enough). This game is almost everywhere! At this rate, it will be harder for us to stay away from this addictive game.

My Dream Home

After I’ve watched “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe,” I recalled my childhood days. That was two decades ago. We lived in a small condominium unit. There were built-in closets that occupy one side of our bedroom wall.

I was a kid then and I was discontented with the size of our home. Many times, I wished that it would look like a mansion, with Victorian-style sofas, and a king-sized four-poster bed with curtains draping over it. My mom was quite busy doing her housewife thing. She didn't have time to beautify our home. Our furnishings were arranged in such a way that our home didn't look close to my dream home.

Countries I have Visited

It is important to save money. I have emphasized it in one of my articles in Hubpages. However, when it comes to vacation, money is no longer an issue to me. I really love to travel with my family. For me, nothing can compare with travelling to different parts of the world. The things you learn, the quality time you spend with your loved ones, the feeling of being an adventurer - these are truly priceless. Here are some of the places that I have visited: