Our Cat's Sudden Death

December 2, 2016 -- we all came home from a great dinner at the Communal Restaurant at around 9:30 pm. We were met by our lovable outdoor cat, Kiwi-Cindy Valentine. And as usual, we opened the door for him to go in first and then he went into the kitchen and sat in front of his bowl waiting to be served.

My daughter opened up a can of cat food and put it in his bowl. He graciously ate a half portion of it, like usual. Then, he licked his paws and cleaned his face. After cleaning up himself, he went to play with our dogs and started chasing the red laser. I could hear my daughter laughing as she watched him play. He finally decided to stop and rest.

He was sitting on the floor in front of my daughter and suddenly jolted up like he got scared. His face looked scared and he fell off his butt and laid on his side ... then he made a loud meow while having difficulty breathing. My daughter started calling, "Mom, something is happening with Kiwi!" I ran towards them and saw Kiwi made one last loud meow and stopped. His eyes wide open and his tongue was sticking out on the left side of his mouth. He was dead. In less than a minute, our Kiwi left us! Needless to say, we were all in shock and devastated. How could a healthy cat die in a matter of a few second?

So we googled online and learned that this not uncommon. Apparently, most common causes of sudden death in cats is feline cardiomyopathy or heart muscle disease. Almost all the posted messages online have cats died within seconds of the same manner as our cat did. It's somewhat comforting to know that it wasn't something we did, but it was still heartbreaking to see him disappeared from our lives without any warning. We were not prepared to lose him all too quickly like this. We thought he was going to live till he's 20 and enjoy being the best outdoor cat in our neighborhood.

All that happened feels like a nightmare ... only that it didn't go away when we woke up the next day. Kiwi is still gone and no longer be coming back to our front door and peek through the side window to let us know he wants to come in for food and a warm bed.

Rest in peace, Kiwi. We will meet you again at the Rainbow Bridge!

Paul Bocco and His FREE Breakthrough Strategy Session

I am a desperate onlinepreneur who would never stop finding ways on how to get my almost 2-decades fruitless business effort be finally fruitful. I want to know how to finally start earning a good and viable income by learning from other successful onlinepreneur gurus. So I always get sucked in by these webinars that promised to show me the steps they took to become successful. Some promised to guide me for FREE and some for minimal one-time fee or even monthly fees. But every time I finished listening to their 45 minutes to 1 hour webinars and/or subscribing to their monthly service of guidance, I am still left with the same questions with no in-depth answers. I am still FAILING. BIG. TIME!

I am beginning to think I am just no good in starting or running my own business. But I am not losing any hope. I know that as long as I live, I will one day be successful too. So I continue to keep looking for ways, for gurus, for articles ... anything that will give me that "a-ha" moment and hopefully turn my business ventures to success.

So yesterday, I came across a Facebook ad that got my attention -- "How My 9 Year Old Daughter Built A $6,000 Per Month eCommerce Business in 29 Days". I clicked and it instantly took me to a webinar page to register so I could listen to Paul Bocco (the guru who would finally save my life) talk about his daughter earning $6000 a month! It is FREE and he just needed my email address. So I entered my email address that gets brutally spammed every second of the day by so many gurus I subscribed to for the past few years. I thought, "Wow! This might be the answer to my prayer."

And so the webinar started -- everything he said seemed promising. I learned another new thing or two that weren't mentioned by the previous gurus I listened to. He talked about dropshipping, Shopify, and Facebook ads, which I've heard so many times. I kept hoping that I would learn something new to get my number of sales skyrocket for the first time. But then the end finally came with no new info, and of course, there was another button that popped up for me to schedule a time with him or his associate to have a FREE Breakthrough Strategy Session. He said that this is FREE because he wants nothing but to see us succeed like his 9-year old daughter and others he mentored. Finally, someone that's not after my almost depleted bank account due to 17-years of unsuccessful business ventures. Finally, someone that will help me fill that bank account back up. So I scheduled my appointment for this Thursday, 10/06/2016 at 12:30 PM -- my lunch break from work. After setting up the schedule, I was sent to a page where it asked me several questions so they can gauge how to help them help me. I answered the questions, including telling them my unsuccessful effort of starting my businesses online for 17 years. Then the last two questions came and they were asking me that if I could get out of my rotty situation by paying $1000, would I do it? The choices of answers were somewhat catchy (just a paraphrase): 1.) Yes, I will do it. Because I'm tired of my situation. 2.) No, I will not do it. I just want to stay where I am at. What?!? What about -- No, I will not do it. But I really want to get out of my rotty situation? But that was not one of the choices. Needless to say, I selected "No" and click submit.

After that, I searched online (which I should've done earlier) and learned that Paul Bocco is selling some type of a process or a software (not sure what it is) called eStore Incubator. There is not a lot of information on this website except to attend his webinar where he would show people how his 9-year old daughter earn $6000 a month which then would take them to the process I went through. So I thought that it would be okay to talk to him or his associates--after all, he said it's FREE because he genuinely wants to help us. If at some point he starts mentioning about his incubator, and I'm sure I will be given an option to buy or not, I'll just let them know that I can't afford it yet. So that was it. I can't wait till Thursday.

Meanwhile, I continued to do my research and found out that the domain estoreincubator.com is a newly bought domain from Go Daddy. It was registered on May 2016, only five months ago. Hmmm. Should I trust him or should I not? Well, I'll give him a chance. He said it's FREE because he wants to help. So okay, I'll take that bait for now.

Then at 4:32 pm, I got an email saying that my appointment with him was cancelled. That they have reviewed my application and that they feel that their program would not be the right fit for my business. Really? Ha ha. Well, I know that's not the reason why they cancelled my appointment. They already screened me and deemed me to be very poor to afford their "incubator" program. But to their credit, they left me a link to go to on YouTube that they think would help me and my businesses. And they are right! The link to this webinar, presented by a man named Mohamed, is 4-hour long and very detailed. Mohamed would just continue to give helpful insights and advises that he was already losing his voice. The people who attended his webinar were so floored by his non-selfish attitude to give out as much as information he could and gave their money's worth and then some. When someone was concerned that he might ran out of time and not cover some information he promised, he told them not to worry and that he would spend as much as 5 hours or so, to get to all the topics. So thank you Paul for screening me out and providing me this link. You are indeed the answer to my prayer! Well ... actually "Mo" is.

How to Reset a Frozen Samsung Galaxy Note 7

Last night, my Samsung Galaxy Note 7 froze and I didn't know how to reset it because I couldn't take out the battery! If you're here to find out how to reset your device, I'm sure you are going through the same thing I was: panic! 

So I'm not going to waste any more of your time with so much

Picture from http://www.gottabemobile.com/

"foo-foo" and "blah-blah-blah". This simple tip or information we probably missed during the first time we powered on our new phone due to excitement or whatever. But here it is:

"If your device is unresponsive, press and hold the Power key and the Volume down key simultaneously for more than 7 seconds to restart it." 

Easy, peasy. Have fun!

StayblCam & Facebook Live

With the explosion of Facebook Live, a live-streaming video capabilities to all Facebook users, I am now bombarded with video streams by my friends and families that caused me agony due to motion sickness. Most of the footage is terrible due to shaky hands and extreme movements. I wish these people would realize what they are putting me through when I am tagged and asked to watch their amateur live streaming. Just writing this blog and thinking about it makes me feel nauseated.

I chose not to watch the videos, if I could. But if I was tagged and

asked to comment, what should I do? I can put on my Sea-Band which is very effective in keeping my motion sickness at bay. Or, suggest that they should use a video stabilizer of some sort to eliminate shakiness and create a smooth videos. But of course, such gadgets can get really expensive and easily cost several hundred dollars or sometimes even thousands of dollars after getting all the parts together.

I am interested in utilizing the Facebook Live too especially when we go on to our bi-annual vacations, but I do not want to get people motion

sick watching me live streaming. But I do not want to spend lots of money either just so I can have a little fun on Facebook. So I searched for an instruction or a way to help me take smooth tracking shots. This is where I came across the StayblCam. 

StayblCam is a very simple yet a very effective gadget that provides a counterbalance for anyone, making it super easy to

produce smooth tracking shots with your smartphone or action cam like GoPro. It is priced at only $74.95 via their website. Check out the video below and see how it works.

So folks, go get one now and save your friends and families from throwing up all over their computers watching you live on Facebook!

Pamper Your Kitty Cat In More Ways Than One

There are many ways to pamper your furry feline friend. Love them, feed them well, play with them and spoil them with an

assortment of exciting gifts! 

Cats are great observers: Oh boy, don't they just love to sit and

watch the world around them. Always make room for them by a window seal or on a couch with a window view, they will be sure to own that spot. Watch them as they gleefully observe the butterfly’s zip around the garden and the birds tweet away! Give them a couch and put a blanket that’s easy to clean or buy them a fancy window perch.

Time to get active: Sounds a little unreal but apparently, a lot of cats are overweight and deal with obesity. I know, a little unreal right? So it’s important you engage your cat in a number of enjoyable activities daily. Quite frankly, I think the cat will be helping you to get in shape as well. Get your kitty cat to chase a toy, or to play fetch, to run with you and let’s not forget how a piece of yarn adds to their endless fun. 

There are a plethora of cat toys to pick from that will keep your feline, stealthy friend delighted! Spoil them with catnip caves that have catnip scented bubbles bursting out of them. That kitty cat will roll, meow, dribble and purr out of pure bliss! The caves are also ideal for hiding and pouncing. Why not try a tunnel pop up cat toy for them to whizz in and out of. Just because you can, throw in a mouse cat toy. 

Take it to the next level and buy a playhouse cat condo and do

ensure there is a scratch post nearby, they will forever be indebted to you. So you see, pampering and looking after your furry friend is easy, achievable and fun. Who knows, maybe the next time you both decide to go for a dress up party, you might even buy your cat a costume! I’m thinking the one that the adorable Master Cat, aka "Puss in Boots” from Shrek parades in, like the one posted on YouTube!

Risking It With My New Samsung Galaxy Note 7

I pre-ordered my Samsung Galaxy Note 7 on August 8, 2016. I was excited like a little kid on a Christmas morning -- couldn't wait to be the first one among my peers to get my beautiful and better-than-iPhone-7-plus mobile phone.

August 16, I got a notification from T-Mobile that my Note 7 was delivered on my doorstep! Funny, because I was very excited to have it but I was too lazy to set it up. I opened the package and took out the Note 7 that was still in the box and slept with it for 7 days! Yep, that's how lazy I was! My laziness overshadowed my excitement. Ha ha!

So on August 24, I finally decided to set it up and transfer everything from my Note 4 to my Note 7. One great thing about Samsung phones and having a Samsung account, it backed up all my settings, my contacts list, my messages, my apps -- yep, that means my Pokemon Go, Ingress, and even the discontinued Flappy Bird!

After couple of hours of setting up the new phone, restoring my apps, pairing my Samsung Gear S2 Classic and my Jabra Storm headset, I was ready to show off my amazing Samsung Galaxy Note 7 to my family and friends. I love how it's slimmer with sexy curvature than my Note 4 for easier grip, yet it still has a wide screen at 5.7 inch, like my previous phablet, but with stunning 2560 x 1440-pixel resolution, AMOLED screen that is said to be the best smartphone screen ever!


The stylus, S-Pen, is the next thing I love about it. My handwriting is now very precise, appearing like my real handwriting and not of a 3 year old doodling on the phone screen. This is ideal for people who love to draw or write without having to lug around a notebook and/or a notepad with them.

Iris Scanner is a fun addition to my Note. To learn about how an iris scanner works, this is a good article to read. So I set my phone's security to unlock using the iris scanner feature. I noticed that even if my irises aren't perfectly inside the two circles it would still unlock my phone. It made me think that this feature is probably flawed, that it would scan any eyes and unlock for anybody. So I had my daughter scanned her eyes, but my Note gave her "Failed to recognize irises" message. Then, I tried my mom, and she too got the same message. Now, I'm convince that my phone's security system is strong but convenient because I don't have to enter in a code or a password. I just look into the screen and voila!

Those were the three that really stood out to me when I was just setting things up. Because I was lazy, I knew it would take me another 7 days to really sit on my bed and figure out what my new Note can do and what other cool things and apps it has in store for me.

The 7th day came--it was a Wednesday, so I put it off saying I'd wait till the weekend. Ha! September 2nd--a Friday, my friend called to tell me that Samsung was doing a massive recall on Note 7 because they've been exploding, "isn't that your phone?" he asked.

And so, of course, I went online and checked the news and it was the top story of the day on CNNMoney. And I think based on the title of this blog, you already figured out that I took the risk and kept the phone until the day the replacements arrived in our local T-Mobile store. I didn't power it down. I continued to use it and just made sure that it didn't get so hot, which is actually normal for every phone I've had. I placed it in an empty OxiClean bucket that was in our laundry room sink whenever I had to recharge it. Ha ha!

I constantly watched the news online regarding the replacements. September 21 -- as soon as the news announced that replacements are now available in the US, I took my explode-prone phone to the nearest T-Mobile store and exchanged. It was like Christmas morning all over again!

It's now September 25, I notice that Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is still the topic in several media outlets, i.e. overheating issue in South Korea and fire issue in China. Now, this is just my opinion -- I feel like some people are just out to get Samsung. Any type of electronics would overheat if overused. My Dell Inspiron 15 red laptop overheats and significantly slows down when I'm running tons of programs at the same time. And I'm sure if I put it out there under an extreme heat, it will caught on fire too. My iPad 3 overheats when I overused it. iPhone explodes too ... even iPad Air. Anything and anyone can overheat, explode, or caught on fire, and even collapse or die (if human) when they are over-exerted beyond their capacity! And just like anything and anyone, when an electronic or a person overheats, stop and rest!

Amazon's "Lion" Commercial Made Me "Awwww"

I am pretty sure 99.99% of the people in the world have already seen this commercial on TV -- because it seems that I am always the last person to know what is going on around me. Yep, I do live under a rock! Ha ha!

So what is this blog about? Well, it is really about what I've noticed when I checked my Google and Bing Webmasters report regarding my "cat" business. Yep, cat ... not dog. Anyways, one of the products on my website is a lion mane for cat. Somehow, the reports are showing that this particular item page of my online store keeps popping up on the first page of the search engines whenever people are searching for amazon dog commercial lion costume. Hmmmm ... That in fact this is the #1 best seller costume on Amazon (as of this posting) for both the dogs and the cats!

So I am wondering -- did the commercial cause it to be the best seller costume? Maybe. Or, maybe it's not because of the commercial at all. Maybe it's because Halloween is around the corner and we just want to see our pets wear the cutest costumes there is. Whatever the reason is, it doesn't even matter to many of us. We buy, because we like. Right? *wink* I bought mine for my cat waaaay before the Amazon commercial. But because of the commercial, it made me look for it (because I'd misplaced it already) and have my cat wear it again. Gotta love commercials that touch your soul. :)

Pokémon Go Is Here!

Now who says that this 50-year-old mama can't Pokémon Go? If you've been following my blog for awhile now, you know that I like techie stuffs and yes, I'm somewhat geeky.

Because of how I love computer games when I was young, I introduced my daughter to them when she was only 2. She started out with Freddi Fish and Jump Start. At that such young age, she already knew how to install the software because she already knew how to read words like -- yes, no, next, back, install, agreement, decline, agree, finish. But this is a different story for next time. My focus today is about how we got so "geeked" out over this new game, Pokémon Go.

Pokémon Go is a mobile app that requires players to use their smartphones' GPS and back-facing cameras to "actively" find and catch virtual pokémon in real world locations. 

Before Pokémon Go, I was playing Ingress. Ingress is an active game in the sense that you have to actually move around in order to capture a Portal and harvest the energy. A player must physically go to a location, travel a specific pathways, get close to a monument, and other specific routes dictated by the game. Again, that's another topic to discuss some other time.

So okay, one hour after Pokémon Go became available in the US for iOS and Android, my daughter and I downloaded it while we were still at the gas station. Yep, I was getting gas and forgot to put my cap back on because I got too excited with this game. We were waiting for it almost a century, I mean all day, because the launching was a bit rocky where it started out in Australia and New Zealand.

Every time we tried downloading the app, it would say "unavailable in your country."
So you see how excited we were when it started downloading and it opening up for us to play the game. But wait, we were still at the gas station with the clerk staring at us because we were parked right next to the gas thingy, so we moved forward to park at the parking stall ... and ooops, stop to put the gas cap back on and proceeded to catch our first pokémon!

While collecting pokéballs from one of the pokéstops.

This will be a very interesting week for me as I explore the Pokémon Go world wherever I go. I will be walking around in our front office, the warehouse, in our house, at the park nearby, the grocery store, the gas station, the theater, the church, and maybe even in a restaurant with my smartphone to find a pokéstop to get more pokéballs and locate more pokémon that may be lurking in the corner and catch 'em all!!!

What is Samsung Gear S2 Classic?

Yep, yep. I have finally put my Samsung Gear Fit to rest but decided NOT to buy the latest Samsung Gear Fit2, even though they now have two sizes to choose from: Small and Large. Samsung also decided to sell them in three different colors which actually made it really difficult for me to decide between this and my new gear. There is a wide difference in prices too -- $179.99 vs $449.99! But with the encouragement of my dearest mother, who at 68 years old is still an avid fashionista, I opted for the more expensive but very exquisite design wearable tech -- the Samsung Gear S2 Classic in Rose Gold. You can check the complete specifications of this product from Samsung.com.

Samsung Gear S2 Classic - Rose Gold

After seeing the Gear being displayed at Best Buy and trying it on to see if it would look okay on my very small wrist, plus having my mother standing there cheering me on to "buy it now, buy it now," I uttered a very convincing line to myself, "Finally, a beautiful smart watch for a woman! Now I won't look like a dork!"

But because of the steep price, I still had to step back, go home, think about it, search for better deal online, read reviews, look for fine lines, and all those necessary things I needed to do before I spend my hard-earned money on a toy that I can live without (or can I?).

There are tons of visual reviews out there from people that are pro in creating their own videos. Though my daughter is an actress (that's a totally different story) and great in video editing too, I am nowhere near like her at all. She's talented like that and I'm just not. Ha ha! Anyways, one video I watched I was very impressed because it was so entertaining the way he did it. It's like Samsung hired him to model for them or something.

Then the time finally came for me to decide where to buy that exquisite smartwatch. I was going back and forth between Best Buy or Amazon, well, mainly because I was hoping that Amazon would sell it lower than $449. But because Best Buy is selling it for $449.99 (a mere 99 cents difference), I decided to just go buy it from my local BB store.

What is Samsung Gear S2 Classic?

So what is Samsung Gear S2 Classic? Well as you can see, it's a smartwatch that looks more like a traditional watch with leather straps but has the techie features that makes my life easier. I will never miss a call or text ever again (unless I do it on purpose to avoid my stalker) as I always be notified when I get them. I can check my calendar/schedule and not miss an appointment. Or, keep active and healthy by utilizing its S Health app -- all without having to take out my phone/phablet from my purse or pocket while sporting a traditional-looking watch on my wrist and surprised so many people when I stood by them while minding my own business, like sending messages out and making or answering phone calls via my "wrist".

Amazing Features that I Like to Use

If you've already checked the video I posted above, you've probably already seen what this amazing watch can do. But of course some of those features I don't use or use often. Everyday I find new feature that I test out and decide whether it's useful to me or not. So this part of my post will continue to be updated as I continue to explore my new toy (last update 7/3/2016).

• Rotating Bezel - On the home screen, you can rotate the bezel to view items on the screen. For example, turning it clockwise you will see all your widgets and turning it counter-clockwise you will see your notifications.
• Notifications Panel - When I receive a notification, it displays at the top of the screen while the Gear vibrates and then disappears after a few seconds. If I missed the display, I just rotate the bezel counter-clockwise to view it.
• Rejection Message - When I get a call during a meeting, I would just swipe upward from the bottom edge of the screen and select the reject message I want to send when rejecting that call. For example, "I'm in a meeting."
• Making Calls - I also pair my Samsung Galaxy Note 4 with my Jabra Storm bluetooth headset

  

  Jabra Storm

  so that I can do just about anything without having to take my phone/phablet out from my purse. Now with my Gear, I can make a call by either entering a number using the keypad, or selecting a contact to dial, or scroll through the log list and select a log entry to dial. This will automatically launch a call on my phone/phablet and I can just talk away via my bluetooth headset.
• Listening to Music - When I want to listen to my music through my headset, I just rotate the bezel clockwise 3 times to the music panel and press the "play" button. I can also swipe my finger down the main screen and press the "music" icon to take me to the music panel.
• Weather and Temperature  - To quickly check what the temperature is or what the weather would be like for the day, I just rotate the bezel clockwise once and I know that whether I should be bringing my umbrella and my coat for the day or not.
• S Voice -  S Voice is a bit more laggy than Google Now Voice. So, I don't use it often. It just needs some improvements in speed and capability, I think.
• Call "so-and-so" - works great. It dials the number from my phone book.
• Navigation - seems to be not working well for me because it replies with "Sorry, your request couldn't be processed. Please try again later." Maybe it can't understand my Asian accent. Ha ha!
• Replaceable Band - This is more of a fashion feature, but I love how I can still change my
  
  band of my Classic whenever I want to. When I had my Gear Fit, I bought 24 different designs and colors of bands to match my daily outfit. So you can see that being able to do this with my Classic is a big plus for me. Technically, you can attach any band to it, as long as it is a 20 mm one. BUT, that's a big but ... but because I bought the Rose Gold, I had such a difficult time finding the bands that would match it.  So I thought I would forever be wearing this watch with the original off-white band it came with. Until my daughter came home on my birthday (June 30th) with a wonderful gift! I unwrapped it and to my surprise it was a replacement band for my Rose Gold! She said she found it on Amazon, but how I missed it was beyond me. I didn't wait long at all -- I opened the box, took my watch off my wrist and proceeded to swap the band. Voila! It is so perfect. I love it!

  

  Samsung Gear S2 Classic - Rose Gold Replacement Band

Overall, I would give my very exquisite smart watch, Samsung Gear S2 Classic in Rose Gold, a five star rating. It has truly made me almost 100% "hands-off" (driving mode) on everything that I do now. I am very happy and very satisfied with my decision. :) Again, to help you decide whether this is what you want and for complete specifications and features of this product, check it out from Samsung.com.

Samsung Gear Fit: Where to Buy One

I am not the kind of a person who cuts and collects coupons or someone who would sit in front of a store to wait for their knockout sale hours like Black Fridays, because I am lazy and impatient that way. BUT I can browse for days or weeks online just to read reviews, comparisons, and pricing of products I want to buy. This is what I did when I've decided to buy my Samsung Gear Fit. Sometimes, it's not even about what other people think are the pros and the cons of the item. It's more about what that item can do for me, because sometimes their cons can be my pros and their pros can be my cons.

Samsung Gear Fit

 I love techie accessories, i.e. watches, necklaces, sunglasses, and anything wearable technologies! I can spend many hours browsing and searching for anything that would make me into some type of a Jane Bond kinda gal. But some of these things are priced a little bit high, so I make sure that I'm not missing out on any bargain before I placed my order.

 So, where did I go to buy my Samsung Gear Fit? Well, I bought mine from Amazon. At the time of my purchase, it was $20 cheaper than buying it from Samsung or my phone carrier, T-Mobile. I chose to shop at Amazon because of my Prime membership aka FREE 2-day shipping. They also have many vendors trying to compete for your business, so you can actually find prices that are lower than the suggested retail price.

Today, I searched and found that DealExtreme is selling it for only $112.34! Now, I don't know how long this sale will go on, but it's worth a try to go check it out there before you commit on buying anywhere else.

Several vendors in eBay are also selling them for really low price too. You might want to go check them out and compare them. I will continue to update this page as I find more good deal. So make sure to bookmark this page and come back before you make the purchase just in case I have newer info on where to find them cheaper. Enjoy your new toy! :)

Still the Best Facial Firming Cream in My Drawer in 2016

I don't write reviews for anything ever, because when I like what I bought it is suffice for me to just leave a 5-stars rating or just keep them to myself. But after trying out Keshima Ultimate Anti-Aging Firming Lotion, I made an exception and wrote a looooong review on the product page just because I was not expecting anything spectacular happening in just couple of days of using this firming cream.

I'm turning 50 years old next week (updated 6/20/2016) and I pretty much wasn't worried of looking old because my mom has really good gene and we aged gracefully lots of people say. But last November, I woke up to a face that was seemed to be out of place!!! Like it was crooked, sagging and fat. My mom even noticed it that morning. I thought, wow, I either have to set an appointment with a plastic surgeon or find a really good facial firming cream. What happened?!?

So I went online and started searching and reading all the reviews of several skin firming lotion or any products that would help in tightening sagging skin. I pretty much dismissed products with tons of reviewers that got them for free or for discounted price. Keshima has several reviewers like that too, so I was really wary in purchasing it. It claims that it can tightens loose and sagging skin; smooth wrinkles and fine lines like every other anti-aging cream in the market. But what really set Keshima Ultimate Anti-Aging Firming Lotion apart from those other skin firming products is that the co-founder, Myriam Maon, communicates with her customers; especially those ones that were not seeing results right away. She would refund the money but encourages them to keep the product and continue using them. So, I took a leap and bought one on a Friday, November 13th.

Keshima Ultimate Anti-Aging Firming Lotion

When I received the product on Monday night (November 16th), I tried it immediately. I saw some changes on Wednesday morning, but I thought maybe I was just imagining things. Then on Thursday (November 19th), which is basically the 3 1/2 day of using the skin firming cream, my mom commented that what I did to my hair made me look really young like I was a teenager -- a mature teenager, that is, she added. My hairdo was just in ponytail which I always do every other day. So I knew instantly that the product was working--my facial skin tightening like I wanted. I didn't tell her anything about Keshima though.

Friday morning (November 20th), I wore a turtle neck blouse which I hated for a while now because my face looked huge whenever I did. But this time, my face looked tight and small and I looked good in a turtle neck again. Mom noticed my young look again and I finally told her about the Keshima Ultimate Anti-Aging Firming Lotion. She got excited and asked me to buy her two bottles! We're now stocking extras just in case they ran out of stock or a zombie apocalypse happens! It's totally worth it!

Mulan: The Best Kind of Cosplay 2016

Mulan and the ugly concubines 2016

After the excitement of our cosplay at FanXperience 2016 of Salt Lake Comic Con being tweeted by Ming-Na Wen, the voice of Mulan died down, my daughter sent me a new link where our photo was yet again shared online as The Best Kind of Cosplay by the 9GAG. It garnered about 26,000+ likes, so again we got excited talking about it at home until that little fame we had faded now too.

It was one fun week, I'd say! I got to experience how it was like to be seen, praised, judged, and scrutinized by people online based on a photo. I wonder how the celebrities function being watched and judged by millions day in and day out.

The Ultimate Cosplay of 2016

After what happened at the con, one of our pictures taken by a professional photographer Bryan Rasmussen, was featured by Salt Lake Comic con and garnered about 6000 likes on just that one page alone.

Ming-Na Wen: The voice of Mulan

Ming-Na Wen is well-known for The Joy Luck Club, Mulan, and recently, as Agent Melinda May in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Having her mentioning our non-professional cosplay group was really surreal. Am I fangirl-ing here or what? Ha ha.
I went back to bed after couple of hours of excitement at home. I woke up still trying to digest the little fame we've had within this two days. I went to work not wanting to be there because I just want to be at home reading the comments being posted on both the SLCC Facebook page and on Ming-Na's Tweeter account.
So during our lunch break, I logged into my Facebook account and read the comments posted and found out that Radisson Salt Lake Airport Hotel mentioned our picture on their Facebook page as one of their favorites! I thought it is so cool to sorta be considered as one of the "faces" that represents SLCC this year. What do you think?
About 4 hours after that, my daughter woke me up from my deep sleep because that picture caught someone else's attention -- Ming-Na Wen's! Yes, the voice of Mulan herself tweeted about our cosplay picture as an ultimate cosplay.

Mulan Cosplay 2016

Before 2012, the word cosplay was very foreign to me. My daughter's friends wanted me to cosplay at an Anime Banzai in Layton, Utah with them and so I did! After that experience, I am always game to cosplay when asked.

Two Mulan cosplay groups in  FanX 2016

So when Salt Lake Comic Con was first held in September 5-7, 2013, I got excited and bought tickets for my daughter, my mom, and I to attend. My daughter and I would cosplay different characters, but never really thought of doing it as a group -- specifically, a family -- until last 2015. My daughter suggested that she, my mom, and I should go as the Fa family, and so we did. I mean, three-generation cosplayers! Heck, we've even brought Cri-Kee with us in grandma's little cage!

Salt Lake Comic Con FanXperience 2016 came last week and we went back as the Fa Family again. But this time we met up with another cosplayer group that we missed to meet last con, the Ugly Concubines. What happened next was beyond our imagination!

Con attendees lined up in front of us and took pictures of our two groups, non-stop. We had to hold our pose for few minutes until the picture-taking subsided. The con's professional photographer took several pictures of us too, and what happened to one of these pictures became the highlight of our week!

March 27th at 7:13 pm, the day after the con, SLCC posted the above picture on their website and garnered over 6000 likes in just that one page. Then around 11:14 pm, this part 2 of our story happened!

After A Looooong Hiatus: So What If No One Still Reads My Blog in 2016?

I started this blog back in 2006. I wanted to be a part of the Internet hype when half of the geeky adults were only 17 years old and younger, or so I thought. ;) But then laziness crept in and then the lack of audience made me not want to perform on stage anymore. What?!? No limelight? My blog is most fun too like his or hers ... blah, blah, blah. So ... I stopped and focused on just keeping my thoughts inside my head.

Fast forward to today--March 31, 2016, everything I have and had in my head are slowly fading away. I don't even remember what I was thinking at those moments when I was taking memorable pictures of our trip to Hawaii, or to San Francisco, or to where ever it was we've decided to go and had fun! Soooo, I woke up this morning telling myself--so what if no one reads my blog? It's mostly for me to remember what my thoughts are and were, so blog like it's nobody else's business!!!

Now, I wish I have a song like the Backstreet's Back or something like that to welcome my own come back! Ha ha! Okay, I stopped posting back in 2011 and my last post had two comments. I was not able to respond to them because I totally shut myself out from my blog. I, purposely, didn't log in just so I didn't feel guilty not posting anything. I'm going to start with my latest thoughts and events going backwards.

Let's start with my last post -- SingSnap is Fun. I posted how much I love that website because I love karaoke singing without having to drag my huge karaoke machine out of the closet. Well, it has been 5 years since I posted about that. I still love that website, but technology is moving so fast that it's actually giving me a serious whiplash. There are now phone apps for SingSnap and other karaoke services like the Smule and Yokee that can be downloaded into these mobile devices; and we can sing and record right off them anywhere and anytime we want! Anyways, I have so much more to share and I will gradually post them here before they completely fade away from my mind. So stay tune!