UMD ni ikimashou

That translate’s to “let’s go to UMD¹“. To the surprise of everyone in my Japanese class, we were told that instead of having class today, we were going to be giving tours to a group of Japanese college students visiting the US. And of all days, today was the day I chose to show up wearing glasses, wow.

I gave the tour with 2 other girls from my class to 2 girls from Japan, Yuka and Rina. It was awkward at first because our minds were drawing blanks and we had no idea where to take them. In all honesty, UMD isn’t that interesting for a school its size. We ended up going to the campus church, the football stadium and hall of fame, the old basketball stadium, and then lunch at the student union. I know I definitely messed up more than once while trying to speak Japanese to them, but the girls were so cute and sweet that it was hard not to have a good time. At the end, both Yuka and Rina and their professors gave us souvenirs to say thank you. We felt bad because we had nothing for them, though we did get to exchange emails

(But wait, there is more! Read on…)

19 Comments

Fabulous hair products for curls and perms

Ever since I got my digital perm last month, I’ve been in a dilemma. I love my new curls and the body the perms gave my formerly limp hair, but at the same time, I missed the days when my hair was shiny and frizz-free. Also, I was not a fan of having to spend an extra 10 minutes styling my obscene bed-head kinks every morning. But thanks to these newfound hair goodies, I can still manage to walk out of my room with lovely curls.

Herbal Essence – Tousle Me Softly Finishing Touch Cream
I’ve always wanted to try out HE’s tousle me softly line ever since it came out, but my past experience with the brand held me back. But last week this little jewel was on sale at Target for $3, so I bought it thinking I had nothing to lose anyways. Oh am I glad I did. This is the only thing that can actually revive my curls each morning and keep them, while getting rid of the frizzies.

Each morning, I’d first wet my hair with water using a spray bottle. Then when it’s damp, I’d use a quarter size of the cream on each half of my hair and start scrunching and twisting. Yep, it’s that simple! My hair will feel a bit sticky at first and look crunchy, but as it dries, the stiffness softens and my hair is left smooth and frizz-free.
(But wait, there is more! Read on…)

12 Comments

My WordPress 3 wishlist

I remember the day I first started WordPress 1.5 (and B2 before that), and since then, WordPress has indeed come a long way.  From being a simple blogging engine to a powerful CMS software, each of their updates have yet to fail to impress me. But as they say, there is always room for improvement.

After reading the 9 Features We Most Want in WordPress 3 article, I couldn’t agree with all 9 features, so I’ve decided that I’m going to compose my own list of things I want to see in WordPress 3.

1. Better back-End organization
   Similar to what the article pointed out, the back-end of WP gets extremely messy and slow once you start piling on the plugins and what not. Though they did do a total revamp of the admin panel for 2.8 (or was it 2.7?), the way things are organized are still inefficient in my opinion. Ex: I don’t like how the plugin settings aren’t on the plugin page. What’s up with that?
2. Pagination
   They have paginated comments, paginated individual posts¹, yet somehow it escapes them to have paginations for the main entries. Since 1.5 we have been stuck with the default “previous page – next page” navigation that totally blows if you have 100+ pages. I know there’s a plugin for this, but come on!
3. Lightbox integration
   I know the gallery/media feature for WP has improved a lot since the days, but I really don’t like how when you upload a picture and post the thumbnail version in your post, it links to the full-size image which just opens in the current or a new window. Yes, I know there are plugins for this dilemma as well, but I’d like something more streamlined and integrated please.
4. Popular plugin integration
   Which would basically include #2 and #3. Instead of having every user install the same plugins every time, why not make it a standard feature of WP 3? And to throw in something for the few that don’t use those features, give them the option of turning it off. Everyone is happy!
5. Rich css/xhtml editor
   There’s now an image editor included in 2.9, yet the theme editor still looks like it just crawled out of a hole from the Stone Ages. Though I usually code with Espresso when I first design a theme, I switch to the WP online editor once I start the fine-tuning. Editing the css isn’t too bad, but it would be nice to get an auto-complete function when for the various WP loops and functions available.
6. Faster, faster, faster!
   Though WP can be a mad powerful CMS, it can also be mad bloated, especially once you add on all those plugins and whatnot. I know that this has continued to be a serious issue, which is why people are starting to look for other lightweight alternatives. Hell, even I’m tempted to switch if only I wasn’t so reliant on the SEO plugins for WP.

If you’re a WordPress user, what would you like to see in the next version? If you aren’t, what changes would you like to see WordPress make before you switch?

On a totally random and off-topic note, I has a new layout up!

29 Comments