I honestly think this may have affected my desire~* to update this blog, but we can’t do anything about that now, so I’m moving forward. :)

These updates are getting done so slowly. I think that the thing I DO NOT LIKE about traveling is picking out the photos. I love taking pictures and actually having footage, but it’s just the picking of the photos that drives me up the wall. I know that traveling doesn’t “require” photography, but I like having photos and videos to remember trips by. :)

In any case, let me show you our fourth day in Japan! But first, a random photo I forgot to post the last time:

“Santos” — A reflection in one of the shops in the Namba area. OK, moving on—

My travel buddies. :)

Isa said, “Hey Carina, o! Look, makeup!” So mean. :(

We left Hostel 64 (luvvvv of my hostel life) for Kyoto! We took the Keihan Line, instead of the JR Line because the hostel we were staying at in Kyoto is nearer a station on the Keihan Line. Thanks to Hostel 64, who pointed this out to us! The trip to Kyoto from Osaka was under ¥500. I can’t remember exactly how much but it wasn’t a scary price at all.

The train was a bit packed, however, so for the duration of a little over half an hour, we were jostling inside a full train car, standing up with bags and trolleys.

I can’t explain how wonderful it feels like, stepping out of a train station into a road next to a river, dotted with cherry blossom trees. :)

We stayed in K’s Hostel in Kyoto, which was a pleasant stay, though it lacks the super-cool ambiance of Hostel 64. Hostel 64 feels like you’re couchsurfing over at Juno’s ideal couple for her child’s adoptive parents, whereas K’s Hostel feels like you’re vacationing in a family-friendly resort in Florida.

Since we could only properly check into the room at 3pm, the first thing we did was head on over to Gion, the famous Geisha street. We wanted to try eating at at least 1 Michelin-starred restaurant and there was one near Gion called Gion Yutaka.

Not gonna lie, I was pretty much geographically-challenged in Kyoto. For some reason Osaka was a lot easier to manage for me. Even with several maps, we couldn’t locate Gion Yutaka, and we were panicking since we had a reservation for lunch. We asked a woman for directions and she pointed vaguely behind her store, and we walked and walked. And walked.

(Pro-Tip: As with most countries, lunch sets are way cheaper than eating a meal for dinner. If you want to eat somewhere fancy, try it for lunch then eat somewhere cheaper for dinner.)

Here we are, asking for directions. I am the unhelpful friend who takes pictures.

Retracing our steps, we found out, quite sadly, that the restaurant was the establishment behind the woman’s store. So she was literally pointing RIGHT BEHIND HER, but we assumed it was waaaaay further down the street. True story.

The chefs here are very srs business, even though we were just going to have a box set for lunch. There was a very reverent air at the place.

This was cooked in front of my starving self.

Gion Yutaka served us a box set with a few choice slices of Japanese black cattle, served on a bed of soft onions, all atop a layer of rice. We were also given pickled vegetables, fruit, and tea. It was a delicious meal and I’m glad I got to try it for about ¥3,500 or $35. The dinner price (though it’s a several-course meal) is about ¥35,000.

Gion Yutaka is located at Minamigawa, Gioni-cho, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto. It has been awarded 1 Michelin star.

After lunch, we got lost trying to find Maruyama Park, which apparently had a lot of cherry blossoms (lol, I know). Thankfully, we stumbled upon a quiet sort of collective of shrines we wouldn’t otherwise have seen if we hadn’t gotten lost. I think it’s called Kennin-Ji, but I’m not super sure.

Barby. :)

Sakura Rain!

We asked a lady in a kimono for directions, and Sarie asked her if she was a geisha. LOL.

It turns out, she was just going to a tea party. :) Since she was going that way too, she decided to walk with us through Gion and back out into one of the main roads. Barby talked with her a lot about kimonos and geishas, and I’m not really sure what else.

We arrived at Maruyama Park, WHICH WAS PACKED. You have to pass through Yasaka Shrine, and all around people were selling all sorts of street food. Since we had just eaten, Isa treated us to a traditional Kyoto sugar candy called Japanese fireworks.

We found a nice quiet pocket to lie down and rest for a little while, beside a little pond, overlooking a beautiful bridge.

This is a strawberry/chocolate snack called “Galbo.” We all love the green tea variant (I’m so annoyed I didn’t get to buy any), but I took a picture of this one because it looks like itchy open sores, LOL.

I love my best friends. :)

This couple was sitting near us and the girl is fixing her falsies because one of them, I guess, got unstuck and her boyfriend was helping her put it back. Hehe. A majority of the Japanese women I saw would be in full makeup, up to falsies. They had a bunch for sale at the ¥100 store.

Further down, it gets a little bit quieter. If I lived in Kyoto, I think I would like to go here all the time.

Japan is really beautiful. I can’t imagine what it was like without all these people and all the mats and establishments. I wonder what it was like in the pre-industrial times.

Lots of people were in traditional garb. I can’t figure out if they are just tourists or if it’s like a “thing” for Japanese people to do. It reminds me a lot of the Bavarian tradition of wearing the lederhosen or the Dirndl on Sundays and during other festivities, as they consider those outfits their Sunday best and symbols of Bavarian pride.

In the Philippines, people rarely ever do that, except when they wear Barong Tagalogs to formal events. I haven’t really seen many women wearing Filipinianas by choice.

There was a couple having a photoshoot done at Maruyama Park. It’s probably a pre-nuptial shoot.

These girly mags are everywhereeee. I’m pretty sure the convenience store’s MUJI selection (yes, they sell MUJI snacks and little “essentials” in convenience stores) also sells condoms. I just find it pretty funny.

We decided to try and see if the Imperial Palace was still open. The train takes you straight to the place on the map where it says Imperial Palace, but you actually have to cross a massive stony garden called The Kyoto Imperial Palace Park to get to the palace itself, which is nestled in pretty deep inside.

By the time we got there, the Palace was closed, and so was the office where we were supposed to buy tickets for the Imperial summer villa, Shugakuin, which we were planning to visit the next day. We were supremely bummed, but we decided to take some fun pictures instead.

We saw a lone kimono-clad tourist taking photos of herself, so we asked if she needed any help. Then, Sarie wanted to ask her—Laurita, a Taiwanese—if she could be part of our photos, and she said ‘yes.’ :)

For dinner, we wanted to visit the Potochoi Street, which is a thin alley of restaurants with a view of the river. Since nothing really tickled our fancy, and they didn’t really fit our price range, we asked some restaurants if they knew of any place nearby to get unagi.

Some nice people Googled and made a print out of a map with directions… and we tried to follow them. We really tried. We ended up in an obscure restaurant, where a lady welcomed us and sat us down when we asked for unagi and an English menu. We were seated, given tea and hot towels, but when we looked at the English menu… there was no unagi to be found!

Horrified, we apologized to the lady, who was kind enough to give us the tea (“service,” or gift/free) and towels, and we were too tired and embarrassed to just leave the tea and towels there. We went away as fast as we could, tried again and got lost again before arriving at a place called Katsukura, which didn’t have unagi, but had reasonably-priced food for our hungry selves.

It’s so funny, but I realized that I had no pictures of the food, so here’s a picture of one of the chefs instead. Two of us got a pork dish, while the other two got a shrimp dish, so that we’d each get to try pork and shrimp katsu. It was goooooo-ooood. They had a lemony sauce for the salad, but it tasted so fricken good mixed in with their homemade bulldog sauce. :)

I found pictures of the food from Sarie! Here’s the pork and the shrimp dishes. So yummy.

Happy people. :D

Where we sat.

Katsukura is located at 16 Ishibashi-cho, Sanjo-dori Kawaramachi nishi-iru, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto City. It’s super near Sanjo, which is a pretty busy shopping area.

We went home so tired and beat, but it was after a good meal, so we couldn’t really complain. The next day, we had a few things planned, though Shugakuin had to be scrapped because we had no tickets and the Imperial office was closed on Saturdays. :(

Stay tuned for the next posts! :)

The post Travel Log: Japan (Day 4) appeared first on Nothing Spaces.

I woke up today to the announcement of the finalists for a new category for this year’s Globe Tatt Awards, which aims to recognize people who are making a difference on online platforms. My blog, this little baby, was listed as a finalist for Future Perfect: The Young Star Blog of the Year. It’s a special category for blogs that the Young Star team felt needed more attention.

I’d like to thank them for just even noticing Nothing Spaces, because even just that, in my opinion, is such a big honor. If you’d like to vote for me—I’d love that!—you can do so here, but I just wanted to share a little bit of what blogging means to me and how it’s seriously interwoven in my life.

I opened this blog, Nothing Spaces, in May 2009. This was my first entry. It took a while before I got here, though. I started blogging more than ten years ago.

I set up my first ever blog on June 8, 2002, and it’s still alive somewhere, but I jumped from place to place before I found myself here.

I wrote because I didn’t really know how to talk to people in the way that I wanted to. I started out copying writing voices of my favorite diarists and there were a lot of quizzes, too. I hopped on over to LiveJournal in November 2002 to follow a crush.

Eventually, I found my own voice and I ended up steadily sharing my passions (fan fiction, icons, photography) and my entire life (high school woes)—every single, ugly detail—with virtual strangers until I set up this space and started writing here.

I used to write about my day, and all the little annoyances and all the little things that made me happy, so that carried on over here, though I don’t really divulge as much as I used to. It was an actual, digital scrapbook that I didn’t mean to make.

It followed me to college, and now, I guess, I’m still here. I’m here! Can you imagine? I’ve said a lot of dumb things that should have gotten me in trouble but didn’t, and I’m thankful that the Internet was more forgiving when I was “starting out,” but I also kind of hate that it feels like you’re not allowed to post dumb crap anymore without getting crucified for it.

(That’s not the point, but it just made me think.)

Sometimes I can’t explain what this blog is about, when people ask. “It’s about your life?” is a question I get a lot, and in The Age of the Selfie, I guess that may come across as narcissistic, too. But I hope that hasn’t been the case, if you’ve been around here long enough. I like talking about things, I guess, and this is just the best way I know how to.

I’m not the best speaker; I don’t think I can even qualify as good. I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that I taught a 3-hour university class on a Saturday for a semester. Which is why this place exists.

One of my philosophy professors said on the first day of class: If you can’t say it, you’re not thinking it. I guess that’s easy to say if you look like Patrick Wilson, but for the rest of us who are not gifted with the confidence of a golden god, there’s other ways like this: blogging.

If I can’t say something I need to say, I write it down here. And then maybe someone will see it, and talk to me about it. Some people have, others send me emails, and in the past eleven years, I’ve spoken to people all over the world and have formed friendships with them that endure to this day, even if our old platforms of catharsis, like LiveJournal, have failed us.

These are the kinds of connections I grew up knowing how to make, and sometimes I feel like I maybe don’t know how to deal with the real world. I still fumble around for words and I stop talking in the middle of a sentence because I lose my point while trying to make it. Here, though, is a place where I can actually talk and have people elect to listen! And that’s pretty freaking awesome.

To this day, I still get made fun of if I say that I know a person “over the Internet.” It’s less embarrassing to admit that today than it was when I was seventeen, but it’s still seems to be funny or out-of-the-ordinary for some people.

I think it’s because people often see the Internet as a lonely, isolating place. But—and I say this in earnest—it has opened more doors for me than I can count, and it has been a bridge from my lonely island, hermit self, to the rest of the world.

Because of it, I don’t feel so small. Or, I suppose I still do, but it doesn’t feel all that bad, and I don’t feel so alone.

I wrote this little post in my head, and words are failing me a little right now, but I just wanted to say thank you, from the deepest deep depths of my heart, for sticking around. Like I said, I’m nominated for the Future Perfect category, and you can vote for me (if you’d like) once every hour, but I just wanted to make this post because I’ve been thinking a lot about my life and where I would have been if not for this place.

I used to make fun of the word ‘blogger,’ but I guess that’s something that’s been a part of me since I was fourteen:

Love,
Carina

Everyday things I used to post:

A typical description thing I used to write. I was a weird, ignorant kid:

Here’s another one:

And another one:

And another one:

Guess who:

“Art”

More “art”:

Clearly a sign of a brilliant future in graphic design and the arts:

College Despairing haha:

Grad ball, 2006:

A bass I begged my parents to let me buy with my own money. I still don’t know how to play it:

“Nail Art,” lol:

Our pug, Gabby:

I am Carina, Abuser of Rainbow Gradients:

My Friendster Profile:

Last, but not the least, here was how a guy asked me to his prom. And I was THRILLED about it.

D:

Anyway, that’s it! I hope you enjoyed. :)

The post Future Perfect: #TattAwards appeared first on Nothing Spaces.

Here’s a video I promised and I apparently intended to do nine months ago. Obviously, I am quite the camera man (and I say this using my sarcasm font), but I hope you enjoy it all the same. This video are just some thoughts from a place that a part of me fell in love with: Paris, France. I hope you enjoy.

I think I take better photos, so if you are so inclined, linked below are my photos from France:

• Pre-France + Day 1
• Day 2: Musée du Louvre
• Day 2: Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris et La Basilisque du Sacre Couer
• Day 3: Porte de Vanves (flea market)
• Day 3: Centre Georges Pompidou
• Day 3: Tour Eiffel & the River Seine
• Day 4: Free Day at Montmartre
• Château de Versailles, Musée d’Orsay & the last days of Paris

I really hope I can go back to Paris one of these days. It really doesn’t seem so impossible now that I’ve actually been there.

Thanks for reading and looking.

The post Thoughts From Places: Paris, France 2012 appeared first on Nothing Spaces.

Hi all! I’m just popping in to invite you to the Blanc Inaugural Show entitled Tones of Home. It opens on May 22, 2013—which is a Wednesday—at 6PM. It will be held at Blanc Gallery, 145 Katipunan Avenue, St. Ignatius, QC. :)

I have three small works in the show, and my dad and brother also have some new stuff up. Also, as you can see, there are a lot of people involved. I’m pretty sure you’ll find something you like! So, pass by, it’ll be fun!

In case you are curious about the list of artist and the literature that accompanies the show, I’ve pasted it here:

TONES OF HOME
“Geography is destiny” (James Ellroy)

The act of moving house is a function of many different things, mostly having to do with upgrade, with logistics. But if we take Ellroy at his word, it could also be taken as a mastering of destiny, a permutation that dovetails neatly into the implications that come into play if the house in question is a gallery space, in which the movement could signify, on one hand, a shifting of energies, a re-calibrating of dynamics even. But there is something utilitarian in Blanc’s re-purposing of its existing three spaces into backrooms and possibly even residencies and moving all exhibitions into the single, new space, that remains of a piece with its philosophy, which is quintessentially a utilitarian one in and of itself.

The unwavering impetus of Blanc, when it opened the first Blanc gallery seven years ago, is the fundamental thrust of nearly every gallery: to grant public access to and cast light on what was/is happening in the contemporary art scene. And Blanc has certainly sustained that impetus. But then again, Blanc owner Jay Amante has always come to art as a fan and his curatorial advocacy has always tended to multi-task, into the reconnaissance of new talent, into the widening of the gallery’s reach, commercial viability was a consideration but never the most paramount of concerns. The contemporary art scene here is exploding. It’s a thriving, alive thing. There is a glut of galleries and artists growing exponentially with every year. The explosion is not abating anytime soon. And Blanc simply wants to harness the blast. And keep at it, with all the stream-lined efficiency moving into a single space brings.

Centralizing everything certainly optimizes attendance, not just at Blanc but in other galleries as well. But there is an under-layer to the move, a sense of establishing a firmer ground, a firmer sense of place, a firmer sense, if you will, of home. The show that inaugurates the new space is not called Tones of Home for nothing and will feature some of the artists who’ve had exhibits in the space, in many ways elucidating the sense of community Blanc has always imbibed, but also loosely representing Blanc’s vision of the cream of the scene, while remaining aware that it is an incomplete vision.

Running a single space has its logistic perks, of course, but it is not without its loftier nuances. In a way, Blanc is mastering its destiny and becoming a sort of locus almost. And Tones of Home is a celebration of this new centering, in which past and present converge and look to the future, commemorating the seven years that has come before and taking the first step into the intoxicating possibilities of the next seven and beyond. It may be a leave-taking of sorts but it is more of a homecoming, a re-establishing of Blanc’s presence as it kicks off its thrust to bring more artists into its fold and to further evolve its vision.

Invite design by Saturnino Basilla and essay by Dodo Dayao.

Tones of Home opens at the new blanc gallery on May 22, 2013 Wednesday, 6PM. Blanc Gallery is located at 145 Katipunan Avenue, St. Ignatius Quezon City. For more information please visit www.blanc.ph and www.facebook.com/blancgallery, email info@blanc.ph or SMS/call +63920.9276436. The exhibition will run until June 15, 2013.

Tones of Home will feature the works of:
Vic Balanon • Janet Balbarona • Allan Balisi • Renato Barja Jr • Zeus Bascon • Micaela Benedicto • Robert Besana • Broke • Zean Cabangis • Buen Calubayan • Ronald Caringal • Mariano Ching • Jonathan Ching • Louie Cordero • Jigger Cruz • Melvin Culaba • Don Djerassi Dalmacio • Bembol dela Cruz • Ranelle Dial • Dina Gadia • Nona Garcia • Geraldine Javier • Lao Lianben • Romeo Lee • Mike Muñoz • Leonardo Onia • J. Pacena II • Ivan Roxas • Don Salubayba • Arturo Sanchez Jr. • Luis Santos • Carina Santos • Isidro Santos • Yasmin Sison • Soler Santos • Hamilton Sulit • Albert Sy • CJ Tañedo • Mimi Tecson • Kadin Tiu • Wesley Valenzuela • Ronald Ventura • Tanya Villanueva • The Weather Bureau • MM Yu

The post Tones of Home: Blanc Inaugural Show appeared first on Nothing Spaces.

A few weeks ago, this little space on the internet was hacked (not like serious hacking, though, just a little front-end messing up) and I lost an entry I worked really hard at. (A reader pointed out that it was still on my RSS feed, thank da Lord. Thank you, Kat!) I feel like that contributed a little to me not wanting to write in this space right here.

Truthfully, I don’t know why any of you would care. I know I’ve lost my momentum for steady traffic here. Who wants to check a cobwebbed space anyway? I update my beauty blog a lot, because it’s easier to write about beauty and makeup than it is to come up with stuff for everything else. I have been reading a lot, though. Comparatively, anyway. I finished two books recently—Rainbow Rowell’s “Eleanor & Park” which was a beautiful YA read set in the 80s, and Jack Cheng’s “These Days,” which was super sad (for me at least) and about technology and relationships. It got me to thinking about how dependent I am on technology and how cut-off I still am from everyone.

“These Days” was the first project I funded on Kickstarter. It made me join Kickstarter in the first place. Since then, I’ve funded 15 projects, and am waiting for the day when I fill up the pie chart. I think I’m missing 6 more categories.

Sometimes I feel like my constant connection to the Internet has sucked out my ability to properly connect with people in real life. Thinking back, though, I think it’s unfair to demonize technology and the Internet. Who’s to say that I will be more adept at social cues and situations apart from the Internet, anyway? I could still be a social dumbass if I lived in a remote village.

Anyway, that’s not the point. There is no point, really. I just read a book and it made me think. A lot. I used to say that I was “Re-learning how to be a Person 1.0,” which is something I thought up after reading Zadie Smith’s article on Jaron Lanier’s “You are not a Gadget” and The Social Network. That was a couple of years ago, and I’m still not a Person 1.0. I don’t think a lot of people are their 1.0 versions anymore, and maybe that’s OK.

A few days ago, I read Paul Miller’s article, which was an update after he spent 1 year away from the Internet. He made me realize that the Internet isn’t the problem; the problem is much more intrinsic and much more a part of me than a part of the web. My laziness and listlessness is not caused by the Internet; rather, it’s caused by me and how I am.

Nobody else is to blame, and it’s astounding how long it took me to realize that.

Between that time and reading “These Days,” I mused about my musings on the work habits of people today and a few years go. On April 30th, one of my heroes passed away. Apparently, while he was confined in the hospital, he was still asking for pen and paper so he could draw.

My dad is one of the most intrinsically creative people I know. I say “creative” in the sense that he makes stuff all the time. When he sees something beautiful, he makes a photograph. All the time, he is scribbling, painting, and sketching. He doesn’t read much, and he always seems so proud of me because I do. But what’s the point of all of my consumption of books, and articles, and blog posts, and pictures, if I don’t even make anything?

So, I think, all that’s left here is for me to try harder… I don’t know what the problem is, to be honest. I think Ryan Adams said it best when he said, “Focus on one thing. Make that one thing really good.” I have so many plans and there are so many things I want to do that I keep on flitting from one thing to another. I should stop that. Not so many things all at once, anyway.

Jack Cheng is actually a designer and he used to be a copywriter for an ad agency, but in 2013, he published his first novel. Seeing the book he labored over for so long come into fruition is inspiring. It’s a pretty good book, too. A few days before receiving the physical copy, I held a digital one in my hands. I read a few lines, but decided to wait for the book, and when I felt the heft and read the words, black stark against white, it felt real. And it made me feel like a lot of my dreams were possible. It’s not about what the book said, but what it represented: this used to be just an idea that people helped get made, and now it’s a book.

I think I just needed a little push and maybe this embarrassingly voluminous amount of word vomit did the trick.

The post What to say? appeared first on Nothing Spaces.

You know when I said that I quit YouTube because of people being mean about it? I forgot about the part where my Internet is ant-speed-slow and about how my computer can’t process things for crap. But anyway, here is a video. Yay.

Nash asked me to comment on karakamos’ brilliant video called “On Being Ugly.” Given that it’s pretty much perfect, I decided to think about other things and that led to this, I suppose. It’s really not as depressing as it seems. I just kind of, somehow, ended up thinking about my friendships and such. It’s not that I don’t have any friends, but I guess I just don’t get to talk to a lot of them. I would like to and stuff, obviously, but how does that even happen?

ANYWAY. Here is the video called “On Being Ugly.” Check it out, because it’s very thoughtful and, IDK, it’s not a pity party or defensive. It’s… just what it is:

So, I’m heading off to The Manila Review’s launch for the second issue. Pretty exciting. I’ll tell you all about it soon. :) April’s been eventful, even though it doesn’t seem like it.

Oh, by the way. This blog was hacked two times in the last couple of days. I don’t know why that is. I posted a Day 4 for my Japan Trip, but it wasn’t in the latest backup of my data. So there’s that. Nothing to do here but go forward.

Have a lovely weekend, guys.

The post On Friendships & Loneliness appeared first on Nothing Spaces.

Utsubo Park (or what we saw of it) was fairly small. There’s a lot of other foliage, but we naturally gravitated towards the cherry blossoms.

So pretty, in the mid-morning light.

These happened because we are tourists.

They are still pretty with a background of green, too. :)

IDK what’s happening here.

SO PRETTY OMG.

A pretty doggy, with loooooooong eyelashes. :)

Barby picked these pretty ones off of the ground. :)

It’s really sort of impossible to get sick of these things.

After we took a frillion photos, we ducked into a small restaurant, lured by the promise of this beef bowl-looking thing. (I think it turned out to be sukiyaki.) It’s a no-English, no-sign type of establishment very near the park. I don’t know what it’s called but that’s what the outside looks like.

The sukiyaki and other Japanese patrons. Towards the end of our meal, we were joined by what looked like Japanese businessmen. Not going to lie, it felt very authentic LOL.

I got the tempura with the hot udon. It was very good and filling. :) Eating there was easily one of the best decisions of that day, as the food was wonderful, and tasty, and cheap.

We went to the grocery to buy some necessities—Japanese snacks! Here are fine pieces of seafood, ready to be cooked and devoured.

Cheap Bikkle! You can get this yogurt-y drink in Japanese stores in Manila, but it is crazy expensive. Or, at least, compared to what it cost in Japan.

Flower dumpage, courtesy of a nature-deprived Manila native. This was a random plant box! Can you imagine growing pansies outside your door?

What about tulips?

Or poppies?

Interesting shrubbery. :)

And a reflective surface, which I of course will take photos of!

After we dumped our stuff in the hostel, we headed back to Awaza Station, with the intention of going to the Osaka Aquarium. Barby had to get some money changed, so Isa, Sarie and I ended up playing in a nearby park. I think it might have housed a small minor shrine, but I can’t be too sure.

It was nice, quiet and peaceful. I’m glad we got to hang out a bit there, because we went to a “major” park in Kyoto and it was just full of people. I much prefer this set-up. :)

Some cherry blossoms are pinker than others.

Barby on a bunny and Sarie on a naughty otter.

Isa on a bunny, Sarie still on the otter.

Tsk.

Taking the subway in Japan is easy. :) We took the Chuo Line (Dark Green) to Osakako, which is four stops away. To buy tickets, press “English.” Insert your money, indicate how many tickets and what variation (adult, child), and click “Subway.” Insert your money then click the fare amount (red numbers on the small black buttons). You can find the fare amount on the big map at the top. Black = adult fare, red = child fare. Hope that helps! :)

The walk to the Osaka Aquarium is short, but there are a lot of things to see.

Daisies! And the first fly we saw IN ALL OF JAPAN until that point.

Flowers!

The plant boxes have sea creatures painted on them. Which means that the aquarium is nearby!

Sarie’s face. :)

LOL.

Barby, a girl after my own heart! Though I don’t blame her—look at this plant box:

We passed by a Milky store, where they had soft-serve Milky! :) It was marvelous.

The entrance for adults to the Osaka Aquarium is ¥2,300, roughly around $23.

This little potato man got into a lot of shenanigans all throughout the aquarium.

We met the river otters first. They are show-offs. Cute, but show-offs.

They were trying to catch fish. :)

The sea otters are cute and sweet and were wrestling and being very cute and hnngh.

I WOULD FREAK OUT IF I EVER GOT STUCK IN A RAINFOREST AND HAD TO TAKE A DRINK OF WATER.

Capybara! These are bigger than I expected.

This King Penguin Chick is the best. I thought he (she?) was a rock at first because s/he was being very, very still. And the fake snow was just blowing around and falling ON HIS HEAD and he’s just like, I DON’T GIVE A CRAP and is relaxing and not caring and he is awesome.

BUTANDING. Whale sharks are awesome. This one had a posse of fishies.

Sarie with a school/tornado.

Seriously, how pretty are you.

Tentacles.

There was an entire section on jellyfish.

I’ve always thought jellyfish were majestic and beautiful, but then I got stung (just a tiny, tiny one) at the beach this weekend, so I do not feel so majestic~ when I see these, but I still do think they are beautiful.

Me & Sarie.

Rockhopper Penguins! We were taking pictures of them and the one on the right made a WEIRD “HONK!” sound/scream hybrid. It was strange. Also, I read (right now) that this species of penguins like to fight (?) so I’m glad I was not fought by a honking/screaming penguin.

At the end of the aquarium route, you can pet sting-rays and sharks.

Outside, a kid with a whale shark balloon. :)

Isa and Sarie waiting, because…

Barby got left behind across the street! The pedestrian light was blinking and the three of us decided to make a run for it, and Barby did not. LOL.

We went to the Umeda area because I needed to get my brother some magazines he asked me to get. We also wanted to see Umeda, and we ended up liking it a lot and going back on one of our later days. But more on that later!

For dinner, we decided we wanted to eat Ippudo Ramen, which is supposedly the best ramen in the world or something. The problem is we didn’t know where it was… So, we asked a man from a car rental where it was and some random guy in the store knew… and he walked with us all the way to Ippudo Ramen.

This is what the front looks like. It does not say “Ippudo Ramen” in English. If we hadn’t had a guide with us, I honestly doubt we would have found it because he walked a little bit ahead of us and we passed by another restaurant in the skinny alley and nearly went in. He had to come get us. Seriously.

The line! We got there before this humongous line formed behind us. There is a better picture of me, but there is Japanese couple PDA in this one, so this is what you are seeing.

Me with the menu.

The menu! Red bowl ramen variants are supposed to be the specials.

Their house tea. It tasted like meds. :(

Barby & me.

Isa. :)

Condiments.

I ordered the “Akamaru Chashumen,” which I think is basically the “Akamaru New” (?) but with more pork slices. I can’t be too sure, though. It kind of looks like disgusting mush, but it was veddy veddy gewd.

Barby’s! I think we might have gotten the same thing, though I am not sure if we both opted for the extra meat.

Isa’s was the “Akamaru Special,” which had pork CHUNKS instead of slices. This was seriously the best. The pork chunk fat melted in your mouth, it was unreal. I took a little bite because I don’t like eating straight-up fat, but it was a glorious experience.

I have shots of Sarie with open eyes, but I like this one because she looks like she has been dreaming of this meal forever. :D

Sarie’s order, the Ippudo Karaka! Looks delicious and it is supposedly what Ukkokei’s Tantanmen is based off of, or so she said. I like Tantanmen tons better.

The gyoza was pretty good. These are tiny, though. Like, literally bite-sized.

Stuffed and happy as clams. :D Though Ippudo Ramen was good, I can live without it. Isa’s dish was the winner, by unanimous vote!

Starbucks friendliness! I was curious, so I ordered the Chai Tea Latte… it’s way better here.

Creepy-ass whale suspended in the Hep Five Mall.

That’s all, folks! :) I hope I can update these faster, but I have to go through so many photos. Thanks for looking! I really appreciate it. :)

The post Travel Log: Japan (Day 3) appeared first on Nothing Spaces.

In case you don’t follow me on Twitter or Instagram, I just got back from Japan! I went with Sarie, Isa, and Barby, and we explored Osaka and Kyoto. We were also there for the sakura festival, which was magical to say the least. Sarie had been to Osaka a long time ago, but it was the first time for the rest of us.

My beautiful best friends. :)

With Isa.

Airline silliness with Sarie.

Weak attempt at funniness.

Kansai Airport! Hello, Osaka!

This is going to be a long post, so click-through if you want to see! :) Inside:

We rode a train on the Nankai Line to get to Namba Station. From there, we rode the subway towards Nishinagahori.

We arrived at night, on the 2nd, so there wasn’t much to do. We roamed the streets of the area around the Nishinagahori Station, which is near where Hostel 64, our first hostel, is located. It’s not too far from the more central Shinsaibashi area, but it is a great deal quieter.

Our first meal was from Sukiya, a 24-hr fast food chain in Japan, since it was one of the few establishments open. We did not come back for a second meal. Though it is cheap, there are better restaurants all over Japan. We’ve walked into random places and enjoyed our meals. :)

I had a beef curry thing. It was nothing special, but I was hungry.

The next day, the places on our list were the Kuromon Market, Shinsaibashi, and America Mura.

Osaka is teeming with pretty plant boxes.

On the way to Kuromon Market, we passed by a pet shop and a camera store. The dogs and cats for sale were groomed to look like Japanese anime animals and had bows and hats on their head.

We went around the Kuromon Market, thinking that there was a lot of food we could choose from to eat for brunch, but a lot of the food there was raw meat and seafood. Ya know, much like a real market.

Takoyaki stand.

There was an abundance of seafood. Barby and I shared a beautiful scallop skewer.

Sarie, waiting to get a squid tempura.

We were on the hunt for sushi, but couldn’t find the store that sells the box we were looking for so we settled for some udon or wheat noodles instead. This turned out to be a great compromise, since the udon was excellent and hand-pulled by the restaurant’s chefs.

Sarie and I got the cold tempura udon, while Isa and Barby split a curry dish.

The Kuromon Market or Kuromon Ichiba is located at the Nipponbashi area, quite close to the station.

Next, we went around the Shinsaibashi area.

We wanted to go to this Uniqlo building, but we decided to do most of our shopping towards the tail-end of the trip because we would be heading to Kyoto in the middle of it.

After shopping around a bit, we headed over to America Mura, which is where the nearest cat café was! A cat café is a café where you can play with their cats. It’s a bit of a strange concept to explain, though not really a new Japanese fad. You basically go to a café for an hour to play with their cats.

For the hour, it is ¥1,050 per person. Sarie and I both got drinks, so we paid ¥1,250 each. We both got earl grey milk tea, which was nothing spectacular. The cats are obviously the specialty of this café.

Some of the cats were skittish and unfriendly. A lot of them were asleep. Most of the ones who were awake were nice and liked to be petted.

This one was one of my favorites, even though it pretty much slept the whole time. We didn’t know how to read Japanese, so we know pretty much none of the names.

This one is Sarie’s favorite. The kitty was nice but sleepy.

We all loved this fat, white, fluffy cat. It felt like petting a cloud.

Hee.

The lap cat! <3 He will cuddle up to anyone who has a lap.

Cute silly cat, who sat on the wall perch with this guy:

Isa’s favorite, who she has named Ginger.

Best friends. <3

A sleepy catty with Sarie, and Barby with the people-hater.

On his ivory tower.

People Hater Club.

The black cat on my lap is one of the most curious of all. But, he doesn’t like going near people or being petted. When he went on my lap to cuddle for a bit, it was a big moment and a victory for all of us, lol.

The guest book. I wish I could read Japanese!

The play area for all the kitties.

The hour really went by so fast. The kitties started warming up to us (at least, in my mind) when we were about to leave.

The cat café is called Neko no Jikan (“Cat’s Time” or “Time with Cats” in English). Apparently, it is the first cat café in Japan. :)

If you wish to visit it, the address is: Villa Inoue 2-A 2-17-10 Nishishinsaibashi, Chuo-ku, Osaka. It can be found around the America-Mura area.

That night, we got lost trying to find Yakiniku Rokko, which is an all-you-can-eat (in 2 hours) Yakiniku affair. We went the long way around, but got there finally. Luckily, it closed at 1 a.m. and had room for four people.

There are no more pictures after this one because we were busy eating.

It was worth the wait because we stuffed ourselves silly! The way back was easier to manage because the owner was very helpful and pointed us in the right direction!

Yakiniku Rokko is located at ２丁目-７-２９ Higashishinsaibashi, Chuo Ward, Osaka, Osaka Prefecture 542-0083, Japan.

The post Travel Log: Japan (Day 1 & 2) appeared first on Nothing Spaces.

Succinctly, I wanted to vlog, so I uploaded random clips in 2006, my first vlog in 2007, and then I stopped shortly after that. I’m not the best speaker, especially when it comes to new people, so I rarely ever say ‘yes’ to invitations for me to speak in public, though I do think that I am getting better at it.

All this time, I assumed that I stopped vlogging or recording because it was so taxing to film and edit and try to upload videos because of our Internet (snail mbps) and my school load at the time, but watching an episode of Becoming YouTube brought to light some “trauma” I’ve buried in my head (I talk a bit about those particular moments in my video).

“Girls on YouTube,” Becoming YouTube

There have been mixed reviews on that particular episode, but my main take-away from that video is I love YouTube, so I will make videos for YouTube. Fairly simple. I know it’s not for everyone. Whenever I watch vlogs or online shows and videos, people find it weird, and I feel like a leper or something.

As awkward as it is to watch the videos I made years ago, I did manage to make a few friends who I sadly never kept in touch with, unlike the friends I made over at LiveJournal. I guess that’s inevitable, as contact should be sustained, but yeah. It’s just a nice memory and I keep those videos up just to remember how putting my awkward self out there could maybe be a kind of bravery in itself already. I don’t know.

Content creation for YouTube is so fascinating to me. It’s an exercise in creativity, and it forges relationships with people from all over the world. It makes people think; it entertains people and makes them laugh. I love the democracy of the platform, even though I’ve come across a lot of—let’s face it—crap. I know that there are a lot of avenues to exchange ideas and meet new people, but YouTube is a really different animal.

Anyway, that’s that! I just wanted to share that part of my life with you. :) I’m working on some travel vlogs (I took a lot of footage on vacation), book reviews, et cetera, so if you’re into that sort of thing, subscribe to my unfortunately-named channel: carinatragedy.

As always, thanks for reading.

The post My YouTube Story appeared first on Nothing Spaces.

I’ve been “out of it” for a long time now. I’m sure people have noticed. I haven’t been able to get back into the swing of things. I mean, I can function, sure, but the only regularity in my life (that have nothing to do with personal relationships) has been my beauty blog. It’s strange, but I find it a bit harder to update this guy right here. It probably has to do with the kind of content these two blogs have. I find it a little bit easier to update a niche blog, than a personal one, but that’s just based on my personal experience.

Anyway. Let’s get the ball rolling.

1. Clean and organize room.

   I’ve actually started on this “goal.” Mainly, I cleared out my desk drawers, some book shelves (another book sale soon?) and sorted out some papers. I’ve still got a fairly long way to go. I’m eyeing my closet for a bit of cleaning, but that will probably my April or May goal instead.

2. Clean and organize work space.

   I have (thankfully) a small studio space at home. Let me clarify that—I have an un-utilized studio space at home. I think that because I haven’t incorporated it into my workflow, I don’t use it. So, this month, I will attempt to make it everything I need it to be.

3. Make a budget and stick to it.

   Pretty standard, pretty obvious. I experienced a bit of “financial freedom” and went a bit overboard. If you haven’t read my post on my own personal materialistic realization, you can do so here.

4. Edit Europe Vlogs.

   Ah, surprised you right there, didn’t I? I shot a lot of clips in Europe, particularly in Paris (then I just kinda got lazy), so I’m doing some travel vlogs soon. I’ve been writing “scripts” and fine-tuning everything, but I never thought it would take so much time and effort to sort through random clips and try to make sense of it all. So, by the end of March, I would like to have uploaded at least the Paris video.

5. Update Nothing Spaces more often.

   Again, obvious reasons. I’ve been thinking off collating all the great things I find during the week and posting them here every once in a while. I do find a lot of things I want to share, but I can’t seem to de-laze myself and so here we are. In any case, I feel like the intent and the want matters, so I just need to follow through.

6. Paint.

   

   

   I painted some parts of some pieces for Art Fair Philippines, and people really liked it, so I want to “get better” at it. Sometimes, the only way to get better at something and to actually accomplish things is when you just do it and not make excuses.

   Two things:

   • A pep talk from my dad today: “Sometimes you just have to force yourself to do something you need to do, even when you don’t feel like it.”

    

   

   • Chuck Close favorite: “The advice I like to give young artists, or really anybody who’ll listen to me, is not to wait around for inspiration. Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you are not going to make an awful lot of work. All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself. Things occur to you. If you’re sitting around trying to dream up a great art idea, you can sit there a long time before anything happens. But if you just get to work, something will occur to you and something else will occur to you and something else that you reject will push you in another direction. Inspiration is absolutely unnecessary and somehow deceptive. You feel like you need this great idea before you can get down to work, and I find that’s almost never the case.”

     Chuck Close said it, so it must be true.”

7. Put portfolio back up.

   Long story short: I got hacked, my back-up files are in an unreadable (useless) external hard drive, and I have been quite the lazy bugger. This month, I will worry about putting the website back up and then we can talk about scoring more clients.

Anyway, that’s all for now. I don’t want to bog myself down with “you have to do this”es and end up curling up and dying not doing anything at all. Wish me luck and share some goals you have, if you’ve committed to any. :)

The post March 2013 Goals appeared first on Nothing Spaces.