Mona⁷

Just watched the Netflix replay of last night's ARIRANG comeback stage. I loved it, just annoyed by all the crowd and building shots when it could show more Bangtan, hahaha. But thank you, Hamish Hamilton, for pulling it off.

So everyone at the ARIRANG watch party last night was in a freebie/gift-giving mode. I gave away Derpy pins (the white version of the tiger from the Korean National Museum, that RM wore during one speech), and leftover Taehyung/Yeontan fanmade photo cards, and got a red ARIRANG hair ribbon, and an entire lemon almond loaf! The lemon almond loaf was extremely yummy.

Yoongi singing the first stanza of Like Animals makes it my new favorite ARIRANG track. Well, alternately with Body to Body.

Was at a Netflix BTS ARIRANG streaming party last night at Elias Taproom in Alabang. It was crazy! ARMYs were crying and screaming and having fun in general. With the ticket we got a pineapple cider, Netflix truffle popcorn snacks and a fanmade custom ARIRANG tour tumbler. So this morning I have no voice, having screamed so much, hahaha.

The presence of No. 29 in the ARIRANG tracks is not just BTS album "breathing space" or the threshold to cross from hiphop bangers to the more introspective, mellower tracks. Deliberately listening to the peal and vibrations of No. 29, which is a bell with deep historical significance in Korean culture, forces one to stop and focus, to collect noisy thoughts and still them, in preparation for the love song to ARMY that is SWIM. ARMYs are threatening to take No. 29 to #1 on iTunes, hahaha.

I found out just now that Nestle Crunch is now just Crunch, after Ferrero bought the brand last January 18. Hmm!

WAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Continuation of the BTS Scavenger Hunt on Google. Next drop will be March 16.

Cinema Bravo celebrates Suga's birthday today with this gem (haha) from local cinema:

Man: Puro ka Suga, Suga! (Everything is Suga, Suga!)

Mas marami pang mukha nitong mga Koreano na to kaysa pictures natin!
(There are more pictures of these Koreans than our pictures!)

Sweetness. #BTS #Suga #Yoongi

"The devolution of man."

Little Agust D and Tang attended Yoongi's birthday episode on Suchwita Season 2. That is green tea cosplaying as soju, since I ran out, hahaha. Happy birthday, Yoongi!!!

Wow, Chanel Rouge Noir (Vamp in the US, for those Gen X that remember) is back as a lipstick and a lip lacquer. Must look for a similar lip color. I remember it was so fabulous back then as a nail polish. While I never was a goth I enjoyed wearing reds and dark lipsticks, and I loved the rich dark red-blackness of it.

I love Robina Gokongwei-Pe for her humor. Here she is in her Valentina/Medusa headpiece to acknowledge the urban legend that she has a snake twin living in the basement of Robinson's Galleria, which is the source of all their retail success.

It would be great if people sold posters. Just saying, hahaha. #BTS

Woke up to this Netflix trailer! So thrilled! #BTS

Ok, since I wanted to start junk journalling I was able to get a stamp puncher on sale, plus some glue sticks. I plan to fill the unused planner spaces with stamps. Stamp puncher arriving on March 11. Excited!

Cold brew sencha is delicious. My sister gave me some leftover sencha that she felt was not the best for hot brews in her opinion, but was probably good for cold brew. Since I am drinking a lot of cold brew tea these days, I happily took it off her hands. One teaspoon, in 500ml water in the fridge for 6-8 hours, makes a great afternoon drink.

My 85yo mom was watching the short Netflix series Churchill at War and told me over lunch that for some strange reason she still remembers how to sing a nursery rhyme called "London is burning". She cannot remember or think of who could have taught her that song as a toddler in a remote Visayan town.

Yoongi is smiling!!! So happy to see him and the rest of Bangtan today. They filmed on the day of Hobi's birthday, ergo his "No days off" story post. #BTS #Suga #Yoongi

Went to the wake of a childhood friend this afternoon. She died after losing blood during an operation (colon cancer). I thought I would be emotional seeing her in her coffin, but no, the life spark was not there anymore and I could not summon any bond with the remains. However I saw a photo of us playing when we were children, and then and there I remembered her so vividly and fondly. Our classmates were there. She was loved.

Today, in fountain pen maintenance gadgets - I bought a new ultrasonic cleaner, an inexpensive portable one. My old one was a CDR-King one from 2011 that lasted until early this year. I was trying to remove shimmers from the feed of my Majohn Wancai Mini when the old ultrasonic cleaner stopped working, so I ended up disassembling the pen and manually brushing the feed with an old toothbrush. Will try cleaning stuff in the new ultrasonic cleaner when one of my pens runs out of ink.

As a Gen X Pinay I am asking myself if I had ever looked bebot (according to the current social media beauty trend). Well, I did wear silver and blue eyeshadow in the 90s, but did not pluck my eyebrows to oblivion. I wore the brown lipstick and the purple lipstick and the nailpolish inspired by Chanel Vamp. I also had the rebonded hair, and the highlights. And wore the halter tops and low-rise Levi's. So. Yes, I had been a bebot before. I just don't have the photographs to prove it anymore.

Now ko lang na-realize na nakalimutan ko bumili ng tikoy para sa nanay ko. Hayyy. Sana may magbigay na lang, hahaha.

Jollibee is bringing Compose Coffee to the Philippines. With our luck, they probably won't be able to get BTS V to visit us. But we will accept V cupsleeves, hahaha.

https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/business/2026/2/16/jollibee-to-bring-compose-coffee-to-the-philippines-1220

#Philippines

The SEAblings vs. SoKor debate was joined by Brazil. They will defend us because apparently they are our cousins since the last Olympics! Brazilippines is a thang. They call us Filiprimos (cousins)! The entire debate thing has blown out of proportion and has become vastly entertaining.

We're All In This Together from High School Musical seems an odd choice for RM's Love Songs Selection playlist, lol. I am still shaking my head. It's so WTF. Kind of like Super Tuna in the middle of Jin's playlist. But I guess that signals love for fishing.

HAHAHAHAHA!!! BBC subtitling, you win an award for this one.

Was wondering why a post with adult content showed up on my feed when I do not follow the account in question. Then it occurred to me that they used the # coffee hashtag, which I do follow. I do not have anything against adult content, but it is not the sort that I would enjoy for myself, so I just blocked the account. I guess that is a case of hashtag hijacking.