That "BLOOMING" Make-Up Look.

I've been "busy" shopping(?!) at the 107th Philippine Dental Association Annual Convention these past few days. It was only yesterday that I didn't go, because it started to rain hard right when I was about to leave the house. I've been beyond flattered that my ex-schoolmates from Manila whom I haven't seen in years have said really nice things about how I look. I'm about 20% chubbier now since they've last seen me, and while I thought I'd get a lot of ridicule from that, I've come to realize that in order to allow people to see what's good in me, it it I who has to see it first. 

While this whole "blooming" thing does have a little bit to do with the fact that I'm in a much better and happier place in life right now in spite of a few diagnoses here and there, while it does have something to do with the fact that I've stopped being your typical angry person who wants nothing but to outshine everyone, and while it does involve the simple act of making a conscious effort to be genuinely happy from the inside, I really can't lie-- It's make-up. And a whole lot of it.

The last time my ex-schoolmates saw me, I didn't know how to do my brows, I didn't know how to blend eyeshadow (no wait, I didn't even know how to put on eyeshadow), I didn't know how to contour.. The list of things I didn't know how to do properly (or simply did not know how to do, period) pretty much goes on. I also fell victim to really ridiculous, cringe-worthy, and downright embarrassing make-up mistakes that I simply don't even want to look back on (ie. using the wrong BB cream, using black mascara on my brows, using too light face powder). It's really easy to change for the better after having a past that horrible.

Call me conceited or whatever you like, it's okay, because I really can't shake off the butterflies in my tummy! People have been so nice and so sweet, I can't even explain it. I can't explain it, so let me just share it.. By sharing my make-up look.:) I'm not really the best person to give you make-up tutorials, as I'm still learning the ropes myself, so I'll probably just start with telling everyone what's I put on my face today.




You'll see that I have a mix of products from different price ranges. Let me tell you that my mix is very real. We have drugstore brands, higher end brands, Korean brands, mid-ranger brands, Japanese drugstore brands, US drugstore brands-- the only brands I'll never use are the luxury brands, and it's mainly because I can never justify spending that much money on anything.

The make-up standouts for me are the Maybelline Super BB Cream and the Maybelline Dream Satin Skin Foundation-- I've found that using a make-up sponge over a stippling brush is actually better, and makes the skin look natural. It's also nice not having make-up run over to your collar, haha. The Heroine Make mascara, and the liquid eyeliner, both part of a set I purchased abroad, have totally cemented my trust in Japanese cosmetics (though I'll be honest-- Japanese cosmetics are expensive in the Philippines, so my Japanese cosmetics love won't progress).

I don't think I need to explain much on my fondness for the Urban Decay Naked 3 palette. I know how late I am to the party, but I had just gotten this last month, and I'm actually still experimenting with eye looks. For this look though, I think I used five shades. In no particular order: Strange, Dust, Burnout, Liar, Factory, Mugshot, Limit. Oh, I actually used seven shades. My goodness.

Soooo.. This is me without the arrows.



I'm not the happiest person, I don't have the most extensive make-up collection, I'm not exactly a head-turner, but you know what makes me feel "blooming"? It's knowing that even after a few storms here and there, I stuck around to see the rainbow. Having made the active decision to actually stay alive, even when it was difficult, is my achievement. That's where I pull my confidence from, that's what makes me feel "blooming".

Okay, let's all bloom. Together.

Corine Magenta

AIR POLISHER JET THING.

Impulsive purchase? Maybe.
Correct purchase? Definitely.




I bought myself an air polisher. The whole contraption comes in a variety of terms (to the point that I don't even know which is correct)-- air polisher, prophy jet, air prophy jet from a different planet.. Honestly, I don't know. I never learned about this in Periodontology (don't blame Dr. Laguna, I took Perio somewhere else), so for the sake of simplicity, let's just refer to this neat little contraption as Air Prophy Whatchamacallit, or better yet, let's just call it The Thing.

I know a lot about impulsive purchases, and I know what impulsive shopping feels like. PLEASE. I have a red lipstick collection to prove it! --The thing about buying The Thing was that when I saw it, I knew I needed it. I only had the vaguest idea of how to use it, but I knew I wanted it. At this point, I think I have to reiterate that this needing and wanting I speak of isn't the same as how I need and want a Koko K Kylie Jenner Lip Kit, this is serious, and I knew that it had to be mine.

I don't know if this necessarily qualifies as an "impulsive purchase", because I had it reserved yesterday, and only claimed it today. I had about 26 hours to fully wrap my head around dropping a lot of money on something I was barely familiar with, but now that The Thing is at home with me, and we have Dr. Internet to bind us together with ~*KnOwLeDgE*~, I'm really glad I bought it. :)

Okay, Dr. Internet had a lot to teach me about using The Thing. I don't want to give you a written lecture on how jet polishing surpasses traditional prophy cup polishing, because I really am in no position to "teach" anyone about something I've yet to fully understand, soooo.. I won't. When I read that bit about how jet polishing removes plaque and biofilm along areas that rotary devices don't normally reach, I was half won-over, the other half followed when I came across the word "ergonomics". I understand that jet polishing isn't for all patients, and that a patient's medical history should be reviewed before even deciding jet polish (ex. Patients with sodium restrictions can't have this because the prophy powder contains a lot of sodium), but oh well, adding something new to my skill set entails great responsibility, and if it would make things better for some of my patients, then it would be worth it. It's for my patients that I'm updating my techniques, after all.

Ohh wait, speaking of updating techniques, I read a journal article about polishing first, before actual scaling-- the routine switch-up was compared to sweeping first, before mopping. I know it sounds really absurd, but I think I want to try it, with the supervision of a clinical instructor, of course. Damn it, I'm getting too serious about Periodontology that Oral Surgery's starting to get jealous.

Oh my goodness, this is such a useless blog post.

By the way, please don't ask me in public (or on media platforms visible a lot of people) how much this cost me. I normally don't like talking about money when so many eyes are watching.. It kind of makes me feel a bit.. Dirty. MY GOODNESS. There's a Contact Me form on the right hand side of the blog, we can talk there!:)

Love and sparkles,
Corine and The Thing

MASK PARTY! (PART 1)

Last Saturday, I attended a Mask Party hosted by Liz Lanuzo's projectvanity.com and Origins Philippines. I feel a bit bad about writing this a little bit too late, but.. (okay, I'm out of excuses). Oh my goodness, this post is going to have so many pictures, I really hope you would like what you're about to see!:) --by the way, this is a skin post, so please expect unfiltered and unadjusted photos.



I was one of the few lucky girls who got to join the Mix & Mask Workshop, and when I say "lucky", I really mean lucky. Not only did I get the chance to sample some of the most amazing and natural skin care products ever, but I got to spend time with the Project Vanity ladies, as well as other girls who love Project Vanity the same way I do.



I volunteered as the first tribute during the presentation-- and I'm really glad I did! I had three masks applied on to my skin. On my T-zone, I had the ORIGINS Clear Improvement Active Charcoal Mask, which has an insanely smooth and velvety texture.



It's actually known as a worldwide best-seller. Truth be told, if you get the chance to have this slathered on to your skin, you will understand why!

I was asked what my primary skin concern was, and truly, I told Sam, the resident beauty expert, that it was breakouts. Seriously, breakouts! I get really crazy breakouts along my beard area, and yes, I know-- it's a clinical sign of endocrine disorders (because #TEAMendocrinedisorders). Sam helped me through it by applying ORIGINS Out of Trouble 10 minute mask.



The Out of Trouble mask might as well be my best friend because of how bad my breakouts get. My acne goes by a "When it rains, it pours" motto. Since it only takes 10 minutes for the mask to work its magic, it won't eat up much of your time. Fantastic, right?



It's also made with zinc oxide. --which makes me love it more, because we actually use zinc oxide at school. --HAHAHA.

On my cheeks, I got a generous slater of ORIGINS GinZing, which is a nice gel-like mask made with ginseng and caffeine, which play a part in giving that extra glow, especially on tired skin.



GinZing was actually my favorite, having it on my cheeks brought about a very interesting cooling and tingling sensation. It could be because of the caffeine, which is really cool.

After a few minutes, I got everything wiped off, and to my surprise, I looked like I was glowing! Sam said that my skin would look glowy, but I didn't think that it would look that glowy.



Sure, I was still stuck with my gigantic pores, a few remnants from former breakouts, blackheads and uneven skin texture, but I saw improvement after just ten minutes. If that doesn't account for something, I really don't know what does!



It took a lot of courage to even think about posting a zoomed-in unfiltered picture of my skin, but if I can't be honest about my skin issues on my own blog, where else could I? If I can't be real with you, who actually take time to read about the things that I have to say, who can I be real with? I'm letting you see my pores-- I declare that we have reached a whole new level of friendship (while we're at it, you might want to say hello on the chatbox on the right hand of the blog page).

I have so much to work on, when it comes to skin care. I have really large and open pores, blackheads, and white heads here and there, but just knowing that there are good products out there is already a huge takeaway for me, and for that, I'm already really blessed.

Would I purchase ORIGINS products? Oh my goodness, you know I want to! Unfortunately, the only thing that's holding me back is that all these products come with a hefty price tag. Sure, it's fun to shop every now and then, but sometimes, we really need to be realistic in assessing how much money we can spend on skin care. I know I seem like an absolute scatterbrain, but I believe in budgets. I can't say that I adhere firmly to budgeting, but I know it's something I have to work on. Okay, let me summarize this paragraph for you-- I have no money.

Would I purchase ORIGINS products if I had an unlimited supply of money? The answer is simple-- Yes, I would. Their products are effective, natural, and just downright fantastic. If financial circumstances were different, I'd buy all the pretty masks I could get my hands on!:) Then again, I keep telling myself that ORIGINS masks are something to look forward to, and sometimes, the waiting makes the purchase extra special.:)

Yours in brokeness,
Corine Magenta with the large pores.:)

BRAIDS + Acanthosis Nigricans + JUDGMENT.

I took this photo last saturday inside an Uber car, I was on my way to the Origins PH Mask Party (yes, I'm going to write about it!). The last time I had my hair up in intricate braids was last April during IDEM, mainly because I didn't want my hair flying all over my face, and prior to that, I really don't remember actually spending time doing my hair.



My hair's naturally black, and I really have no plans to color it, so I really had to tweak the color settings on the photo, just so the braids would actually show. I hate to say this, but there's so much truth to how they say that black does not photograph well.

Okay, can I be a little bit vulnerable here? Oh of course, I can!

I sometimes manifest this clinical sign at the back of my neck called acanthosis nigricans, and it sometimes makes me conscious about putting my hair in updos. Acanthosis nigricans is characterized by dark and velvety pigmentation at the back of the neck, and is usually a sign of some endocrine-related condition, usually insulin-resistance and whatnot. In my case, well, it is a sign of an endocrine dysfunction. There's something wrong with my thyroid (for now, let's not talk about my Stein-Levanthal syndrome, but please know that it's there). It doesn't work as well as it should-- and that's why my regular body temperature is almost always at least a degree and a half lower than what it should be (lower metabolism is a sign of hypothyroidism).

My acanthosis nigricans isn't as bad as it was a few months ago, but when it strikes badly, it really does take its toll on my confidence. I know that it really isn't completely my fault, and that it's a clinical sign of an underlying disorder rather than a sign of less-than-efficient loofah-working, but the thing is, not everyone has taken Principles of Medicine, or at least General Pathology, and even those who have may still be a bit swift to judge.

Okay, now let's talk about judgment.

I vaguely remember a quote I read somewhere. It had elements of "that guy you just called stupid has a learning disorder and studies four hours a night", or something like that. People are so judgmental, that I tend to ask myself it's still in the realm of human nature. I tend judge people too, I have to admit-- silently, but it does happen. The thing is, we don't know each other's struggles in life, we don't know this, we don't know that, we don't know sh.... --okay, I was just so close to having to mark this post as one that "contains foul language". Sometimes it's just a lot less stressful to surrender yourself to the fact that you don't know everything. I don't know if this is the right way to go about life, but oh well, it works. For now.

Class I Co LIFE LESSONS.

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned from the last week of the summer term is about self-confidence, in a sense that I should be generous in giving myself chances to improve. I’ve come to realize that in the past, I was being a meanie to myself by keeping that “Okay kiddo, an 80 is the best you can do, you’re never gonna get any better.”—and well, that's just wrong.

from the dentalsourceblog.com --THANK YOU!

During my first year at UPHSD, I was seriously struggling with Class I Co restorations, because the school that I transferred from didn't have that listed as a clinical requirement (at least, during my time), plus, considering that I was mostly out of the clinic on my last year at my old school due to a dark cloud hanging over my head, my manual dexterity was really off. My skills were underdeveloped as they were and they were stunted.

We have about 3 Class I Co (Amalgam is a completely different story) requirements in a clinic level-- 3, or 2, sorry, I really couldn't remember. When I started working with Co restorations, I was in Clinic II (second out of four clinic levels-- I completed Clinic I at my old school), and at that time, very special circumstances allowed me to do all the Class I Co's that I can, and to just have them credited over to the next clinic levels. 

I think know I tested my instructors' patience when I was working on my Class I Co's then. I did Co work on typodonts in the past, and did pretty well then, but it felt really different on live patients, and I was pretty much radiating I have no idea what I'm doing-vibes here, there, and everywhere, and it really did transcend to the restorations I was doing. My instructors taught me how to fix my mistakes, but it still didn't change the fact that on my own, my restorations were disastrous. My restorations were so bad, that I even had grades of 80-84. Because I seriously didn't think that I could ever improve, I decided to get those grades encoded. When something's "encoded", there's no turning back, you're stuck with that grade forever. Eventually, I was able to redeem myself. The last restorations have been earning grades ranging from 88 to 94, and while they've been encoded, my previous lower grades have already dragged them down. 

The other day, I performed four Class I Co's, and yesterday, three-- all on the same patient, but because I've already maxed out the Class I Co's that could be graded, these seven restorations don't bear credit anymore. In every essence, I did them for free, but it's fine, because doing them was part of my Prosthodontics treatment plan, and I had fun doing them anyway. When I had yesterday's work checked, my instructor said that my work was "pretty". I was really happy that I still had my face mask on, or else she would have seen my idiotic ear-to-ear smile.:) --Yup, I was that happy.

I no longer dared to ask what my grades would have been if my work had been creditable, but I think having my work described as pretty was enough.

So here's the thing-- Just because you're horrible at something today, it doesn't mean that you'll always be horrible at it. Before you can make other people believe in what you have to offer, you have to believe first. Allow yourself to grow, don't hinder yourself from being a better version of yourself. 

It's all gonna be okay. <3

RPD Discussion -- DONE!

Is it cheesy to say that I love Dentistry now more than I did yesterday (..but not as much as I will tomorrow)? I have massive Prosthodontics issues, and it's not that I dislike it, it's just that I don't feel that it likes me very much. I'm working on a brand new Removable Partial Denture case, and while you may think that I've said that too many times already, it actually feels real this time. Yes, this time. I really hope that in July or so, I'd be writing again, talking about the same case, telling everyone that I've finished. Oh my Lord, I really hope this happens.:)

Before actually starting procedures, we have to go through this thing called a Case Discussion, which is pretty much like a hybrid of a mini-defense and an actual situational analysis quiz. During the discussion, the clinician is pretty much expected to foresee all circumstances, and adjust treatments as necessary. Discussions are such a mix of theory and practical that during my case discussion today, I had to flip through pages of McCracken just to arrive at certain answers.

I did my case discussion along with my friend, Johanna. I think one of the reasons why we got through the discussion without sustaining any injuries (hehe) is that we really gave our personal bests in preparing. I invited her to my house the night before so that we could study and work on our case portfolios together. I like to believe that we prepared well.



We were both under Dr. Brian Esporlas. It really upped up the pressure to prepare well, because as he admits it himself, he really makes his victims clinicians think hard. Hmm, wait-- let me restate that: All our Clinical Instructors at school make us think hard, but discussions with Dr. Esporlas are unique because.. Well.. Just because. By the way, he has page numbers memorized, so it really is vital to read, read, read, and R E A D! :)



By the way, Clinical Instructors do wear white coats at school, but I took this photo during lunch hour, and no patients were inside.



You know how they say that reinforced positive behavior is repeated? -- here's a tip for you:
When you do something good, like when you're able to answer correctly, or when you come up with a correct RPD design, give yourself a few minutes to relax, to have fun, and to actually smile. Let your smile-minutes be your positive reinforcement so that whatever nice thing you accomplished, would actually stick. Trust me, it's legit. I heard it on a YouTube video. Everything on YouTube is legit. With the exception of things that aren't. Hahaha.



In the past, I've known myself to be Queen Discouragement. In previous case discussions, especially during my first year at UPHSD, I'd get so discouraged, and so sad that I'd actually cry. No, I'm serious-- I cried during my Anesthesiology PETE discussion, and my Complete Denture discussion, and I nearly did during my (first!) RPD discussion (the case wherein I had to let the patient go)-- and my professors were actually nice. I'm pretty sure that not everyone's as dramatic as I am, but mini-meltdowns are okay, as long as you pick yourself up quickly, and bounce back stronger.

In case discussions, you really need to leave your ego at the door. You need to be confident, but not arrogant. I know it's easier said than done, as I myself have my own set of pride issues.

PRIDE ISSUES

Attitude-wise, it's simply important to remember to not be an a-hole. Being an arrogant a-hole takes up so much energy, and it's energy you can use for better things (such as flipping through pages of McCracken).

During this RPD case discussion, I wanted to cry when I was asked to draw my design on paper. I had the design in mind, but I just didn't know how to draw it well. There simply aren't any *ArTiSaN* fibers in my chubby little body, soooo yeah. Thankfully, my Clinical Instructor helped me through it, and yay! I did it. --but there really is no way that I'm gonna post my RPD design drawing here on the blog, and it's mainly because I had trouble working the pencil, and once you see my utter lack of art skillzzz, you would lose all respect for me. I tell you.



I know I've sung my praises of my discussion-mate, Ate Johanna over on Instagram, but let me go right ahead and sing some more-- Sometimes, multiple clinicians want to discuss on a given day, but only one clinical instructor is available. When this happens, the clinicians have to do their case discussions at the same time. There really isn't much of a downside to it, except that your instructor might take a little bit longer to check two of everything-- I don't know, if you even consider that a down side.

"ATE" is used to address an older female in Filipino, kind of like how you say "ah jie" in Chinese. We also use it to refer to our seniors, kind of like "sunbae" in Korean. Here's the thing-- she's my ate by age, but I'm her ate by seniority.

If you need to have a discussionmate, find yourself a cheerful one. I can't really think of any sad clinicians at my school right now, but just go right ahead and pair up with someone who can complement your learning style. Look for someone who'd be generous in sharing what she knows, and would gladly accept what you know. I would have been lucky if I had Fhel, Ehm, Kim Kyle, Marvin, Justin.. or pretty much any one of the happy summer clinicians-- but by getting Johanna, I was extra lucky. And blessed. Definitely blessed. <3 The thing is, you grow with your co-clinicians, and isn't it just more fun to be happy while growing?

I'm five minutes closer to wrapping this up, but one thing that I want to reiterate, which might as well be the most important of all-- find yourself a good lipstick. I know that lipstick should be least of one's concerns when going off to war for a case discussion, but let your lipstick be your war paint, there's so much confidence to gain from wearing a good lip color. It's not always red, though. You can try fuchsia too.:)



Here's something interesting-- I posted a picture of myself trying on lipstick (yes, it's the L'Oreal one that I'm currently in love with) on Facebook. The next time I saw Dr. Brian, he asked me what shade it was because his wife wanted it as well. When I saw it on sale on BeautyMNL, I immediately sent the link to Dr. Brian's wife. --and yes, Dr. Ailene Esporlas now has L'Oreal Color Riche in Glamor Fuschia as well.

Today, Johanna and I are set on working on our wax patterns for our cases. I'll keep you posted!:)

Love always,
Corine Magenta

Love is PATIENT.

It's 1:00 AM of Wednesday, and I'm just about getting ready to get ready for bed! I have absolutely no idea where the day went-- but wait, maybe it is true that time flies when you're having fun. Well, maybe I just had an exceptionally awesome day because I started the day with my love love Periodontology.




I tell you-- the best clinic days are the days that I get to do Perio. :)

I'm on my 7th weekly recall on my Compre Perio case-- Okay, wait. I'm starting to feel that I'm lying to myself, still calling it weekly, when the last time my patient saw me was two weeks ago. Anyway, one more "weekly" recall, and we'll be off to the monthly recalls. On my old blog, I mentioned about wanting to jump back to the surgical phase because of failure of a few teeth to improve. I still want to jump back to the surgical phase, I just couldn't do it this term because the surgery cut-off has passed.

That's the thing with being a Dentistry student, especially when you reach the clinical years-- you want to think that you hold your own time, but in reality, you're nothing but a slave to your patients' schedules. Oh my goodness, slave seems kind of harsh and exaggerated, but of course, you get the idea. The truth is, life gets in the way, not only for you, but for your patients. While there are patients who give tons of excuses just to avoid their appointments (get rid of those patients the first chance you get!), there are patients who fall into unforeseen circumstances-- telling the two apart is a very crucial skill. While it's okay to be frustrated for a few minutes, it's always a good idea to keep calm and look for something else to do.

Sometimes, you also have to remember that for every non-compliant patient, faith and optimism will come at you with a really good patient who would make you love what you do (even more!). It's also fun appreciating patients as actual humans, and not just as requirements to be ticked off a list. You'll give them your skills, and they'll give you their trust.

..and when you love hard enough, you can sometimes get donuts too.:)



--but you know, donuts or no donuts, I love my patients just the same.<3

L'OREAL Color Riche in Glamor Fuchsia.

Fuchsia.

Why oh why, of all colors did my favorite one have to be so difficult to spell? That's the biggest reason why I named my blog Corine Magenta-- because fuchsia is too difficult to spell. Oh well. Difficult to spell, easy to love. Life is fair.

After a long day, I got a nice picker-upper from my favorite online beauty hub, BeautyMNL. It's definitely not my first transaction with BeautyMNL, but for some reason, every transaction gives me the butterflies-- the same butterflies as the first ever one!

I was actually lucky enough to snag myself a tube of L'Oreal Color Riche while it was on sale. I'm not sure if it was destiny or just sheer luck, because out of so many shades, only three were still in stock-- and yes, that includes my Glamor Fuchsia. Honestly, I didn't care about all the other shades, I just wanted my one. It was love at first swatch when I saw it at the department store last week, I just waited it out then. It was only when it went 50% off on BeautyMNL that I decided that I'd be downright nuts if I let it slide.

My first impression of Glamor Fuchsia is that it looks a lot like Flat Out Fabulous by MAC. I had a tube of it once, until it pretty much disappeared on me.:( Losing my Flat Out Fabulous was really painful, mostly because it was pretty much my perfect lip color, and well, let's not deny it-- that lipstick was pretty darn expensive. Then again, it's okay, because as I can see now, God had better plans for me-- not only is Glamor Fuchsia my perfect lip color, but it's my perfect formula as well!



I'm really pissed by that little color tile on the tube-- it's not true to color at all. People would miss out on a great lip color if they'd actually believe the color shown on the tube.

I don't mean to compare (oh yes, I do!), but Glamor Fuchsia pretty much submits itself to comparison to Flat Out Fabulous. It has that legit fuchsia thing going on. I don't know how to describe it in *TeChNiCaL* terms, but let's just say that they're about the same color as those pretty violet-red bougainvilleas along Madrigal Avenue in Alabang. The fact that the formula's almost like a creamy matte and is actually hydrating as opposed to that of MAC, which more matte and drying, wins my heart over and over again.

I really need to work on my swatching photos. I can definitely say that the lipstick does not drag!

I think fuchsia lipstick could look good on anyone, but just for reference, I'm Southeast Asian -- and that means that even if I do have yellow undertones, I'm still a little bit tan compared to your typical oriental Asians. By Filipino standards, I have medium tone. My skin tone has been described as "olive" at one point or another. Personally, I don't know anymore.



I could just shower love onto this lipstick over and over and over!

When I was younger, I was really terrified of wearing bright and bold lipstick colors. Most of the shades I used to wear were baby pinks. I didn't know that I was missing out by not wearing something as bold as a fuchsia, but thank goodness for those bougainvilleas, because I've embraced fuchsia lip color with open arms, and more importantly, an open heart. While yes, I do get occasional stares here and there when wearing bold lipstick, but then I've come to realize that wearing make-up (bold lipstick!) requires a special kind of.. Well.. Boldness.

So do whatever makes you happy. The aim of make-up is to help you feel even better about yourself anyway.:)

Lots of love,
Corine Fuchsia.

MONDAZED.

I've been going through a few tummy issues. It started last Wednesday, paused over the weekend, and now it's back! I'm starting to think that my tummy has developed an allergy to weekdays.. Or maybe it just doesn't want to come to school--? Still, the mind and heart are superior to the tummy, both in an anatomical and in an "enlightened zen hipster" sense; therefore, I really had to declare: NOTHING WILL STOP ME TODAY!

I really wanted to give myself a good breakfast today. That would ideally mean having something high in fiber, and/or low in sodium. Unfortunately, when dealing with tummy issues, fiber is not something you'd want hanging around your system.

I decided to have some chicken and potatoes, and then some rice. Carbohydrates, I know! The thing is, I was trying to get as much "binding food" as I can. There's this thing about the BRAT diet, also known as Food for Getting Over An Upset Stomach. B is for bananas, R is for rice, A is for applesauce, and T is for toast. I really wanted to adhere to what the BRAT diet called for, but since there isn't much food variety around campus, I did the best that I could.

--or maybe, I was just looking for an excuse to eat chicken.
Oh my beloved chicken. <3



I went to a restaurant across campus. I know, I know, I know.. It's really odd to be eating alone at a restaurant. Some people say they can't.. but of course, this is me. I can very well get a restaurant table and be comfortable with solitude. The thing is, I always feel constantly surrounded by people, and sometimes, I really crave legitimate me-time.. So that's what I do when I want to be alone-- I go out. And eat.

It's really ironic how someone who claims to be comfortable with solitude to be easily bored at restaurants, but it's my dichotomy. When I go out, I like taking reading materials with me. The whole Dentistry senior thing has just started to sink in, that's why most of the things I read these days have a lot to do with Basic Medical, or Basic Dental subjects. Currently, I'm working on an Anatomy review booklet. I'm actually struggling with Anatomy. I struggled with it in first year, and I'm struggling with it now. I really want to believe in myself, but it's a little bit difficult right now.

I like to think that I made m school day as productive as I possibly could. Well, I was able to start writing my RPD Case Portfolio, so I guess that's something to be proud of. We don't need to come up with stellar results instantly, I feel. We just need to start, and then hope that we don't die.:)

FIRST POST (on BLOGGER).

Oh wow. First post (on Blogger).

The last time I've ever done a "first post" was about a year and eight months ago, back in my "home" blog-hosting site, WordPress. I decided to leave WordPress because I was starting to crave more freedom in my writing. WordPress was great back when I was just starting to "find myself" in blog-writing, but now that I want to do more, the restrictions of my previous hosting site were starting to take their toll. I felt nearly-cramped in a "creative sense".. and so I switched. WordPress will always be "home", but it's about time that I flew out of the nest.

It kind of makes me feel bad, because over the last few months, I've been getting more views than I ever thought I would, but I try not to feel bad about losing my traffic, it's not like this is a job for me after all. Whatever I lost, I can get back, I keep telling myself. I'm still in the process of importing my previous posts from my old blog, over to this one, and it's taking so long, but oh well, if they don't come through at all, it's going to be okay. I'll just make new ones!:)

Okay, let me introduce myself (on Blogger).

Hi, I'm Corine. I'm Asian.
Errr.. That's it?

Oh wait, this is what I look like!

--thank God for filters!

I'm pretty much the New Girl (on Blogger). Honestly, I don't even know if my address is www.corinemagenta.blogspot.com, or corinemagenta.blogger.com --Well, I'll figure it out soon enough. I'll probably just concentrate first on importing my old blogs. :)

I'm really big on community, so please please please, let's have wonderful conversations about make-up, food, and millennialism (ooohhh, I'm an early-90s baby, by the way!). I'm also a university student in the Allied Health field, so if you're up to chat about school stuff, I'm up for that too! I'm just about getting ready to install a chatbox on my blog sidebar, so feel free to leave me messages here and there.

I'm so happy to be here. On Blogger.