July talk

Get it? July talk? Like the band? But we're just gonna talk about what I've done in July? Hahaha... yeah no wonder no one reads my blog.

Anyhoo, I was out and about plenty this month, as I hope I will be in August as well as summer wraps up before I head to school in September. I want to get my fill of summertime fun so I can go to school fully focused (or, as focused as I can be, because admittedly, I am terrible at staying focused in school!).

Movies
If you know me, you'd know I hate movies. I don't know; the idea of sitting in the same spot for more than an hour is not appealing to me (this is also the reason why I have been procrastinating catching up on Game of Thrones and all other TV shows I've ditched). But here's the thing: I don't mind sitting around to watch hockey for three hours... I think it's the commercial breaks that help.

So my family dragged me out to watch Jurassic World, and Inside Out. I haven't watched Jurassic Park (shock!) so I wasn't too sure if I would be able to understand Jurassic World, but I didn't feel like I had a hard time understanding what was going on. I mean, maybe I missed a few references to the old movie, but for the most part, I think anyone would understand the premise of the movie.

mmmm chris pratt

Also, dinosaurs. Aren't they wonderful? I went home from the movie wishing I had a pet velociraptor.

Inside Out was cute. That is all. I might have almost cried near the end. Also, I wish my parents watched the movie. I didn't feel like the movie entirely addressed emotions, but I liked that it exemplified how a parent should react to their child's emotional outbursts - sternly, with patience, and some smattering of understanding. My parents just yelled at me for everything.

Festivals
Night It Up is not quite my cup of tea, only because it requires shelling out lots of cash if you want to fully experience all that it has to offer (So. Many. Food options!). But I always enjoy the liveliness and the freebies that I get. The ladies at the Aveeno/Neutrogena tent really spoiled us - they literally dumped handfuls of samples into our bags! I'm currently sampling Neutrogena's new hydro boost gel cream. Maybe I'll review it later (after I go through the fifteen tubes I have).

I also went to Richmond Hill's Ribfest... which, like Night It Up, requires spending money, but, like the homeboy says, YOLO. We tried some ribs, got some cotton candy, and played some games. I mean, the guy at the beer-bottle-breaking game gave me a deal (four attempts for $5), so I couldn't give it up. Each of my siblings and I got one ball. Only my brother smashed a bottle, but I was next closest!

Pan Am Games!
Easily the most exciting thing I've done this summer - or this year even! - was attend a couple of Pan Am games. As previously blogged, I watched the morning session of the semifinal badminton games, but we also watched some beach volleyball, and - my favourite sporting event that I've attended so far - a preliminary indoor volleyball game featuring team Canada vs. USA!

We got to the venue late (as is tradition) and our section was completely filled - the only space available on the bleachers were right behind a post! Luckily, the volunteers were nice and we got to move to an emptier section, which happened to be where all the VIPs were sitting (athletes and their family members, among other important people!).

I am not an avid a follower of the volleyball world, but some time at the end of last summer, I did stream a couple of games and learned a few names, so it was pretty surreal to watch these guys in action, live!

It wasn't just the fact that it was Canada vs. USA that made the game exciting, but also because Canada successfully completed the comeback, coming from two sets to none early on in the game!

Cuba and Colombia played after, but because the Canada/USA game went to a full five sets, it was pretty late by the time it ended so we didn't stay to watch the rest of the game.

And finally, on the last day of the games, I visited the cauldron and the famous Toronto sign! I think both of these structures will stay up for the Para Pan Am games but I wanted to see them in person in case they wouldn't.

And everything else
We went to an escape room tonight! It was my first time, but my sister and her boyfriend had been to one before, so we had some experience on our team. We were able to escape the room, however we weren't able to solve the murder mystery... Well, we did. I did. But we didn't give the correct answer. And so we ended up on the fail wall.

But it was still fun. I felt a little useless for the most part because my sister, her boyfriend and my brother had their hands on everything. However, I did clue in on several things that they didn't!



Now with August here, I hope I'll do half or as much as I did in July. I do have One Thing already on the calendar...

Epuris: it's bennnnn three months! // products I'm using

(UNMUTE IT!)

(in case you didn't get the reference... no, no, it isn't your fault, I'm just on the internet a tad bit more than the average person.)

Alright, alright, it's actually been a little over three months. To be quite honest, I've been really lazy. And really tired (see below). But I noticed that my posts about Epuris were getting some hits; so I don't know if there are actual people searching and reading up on Epuris, but if there are, hello out there!

I thought for this post, in addition to summing up my experience thus far, I would share what products I've been using along with Epuris because before I started using Epuris, I did a bit of research to find out if and how people were changing up their skincare routines, what products they were using, and how they were coping with side effects (namely, the dryness!).

Et voila! My skincare products:

Clean & Clear makeup dissolving foaming cleanser for makeup removal

Spectro Jel for blemish-prone skin to cleanse my face

Bioderma Sébium H2O purifying cleansing micelle solution to remove makeup AND cleanse my face on days when I'm lazy...

Nivea nourishing day cream with SPF 15 after washing my face in the morning, before putting on makeup

Nivea nourishing night care after washing my face at night

L'Oreal Sublime Sun Silky Sheer SPF 50 face lotion - a new product I'm currently trying out...

Nivea hydro care lip balm throughout the day

EOS lip balm in summer fruit sometimes

Vaseline Jelly Baby (because this is all we have at home) at night

Earth Therapeutics green tea herbal lotion throughout the day and at night right when I go to bed

(*pictures were googled, most are from the brands' websites. TL;DR these are not my pictures I do not own them okay? okay)

One thing to note though, is that my roster of products did not change once I started Epuris (except the sunscreen - that's a new product I'm currently trying out); the same goes for the makeup that I use (which I'll blog about another time). It's probably because my skin was so, extremely oily to start with, so the obliteration of sebaceous glands on my skin hasn't been traumatizing enough to change my routine. With this said, I wouldn't say that these would be the best products for your skin; so try them all out with caution!

For the past two months, moderate progress has been made - my forehead is actually clear (well, 99% clear) for the first time since maybe grade 8 (and that was... 10 years ago, holy shit); and I haven't gotten a single pimple on or around my nose area, which has been a problem area since I started having acne. However, I still get pimples on my cheeks and on my chin, though it usually isn't anything too gnarly (except for the one giant cystic zit on my cheek that appeared last week, and the monster zit on my chin that's currently healing right now).

HOORAY SMOOTH FOREHEAD!

Side effects haven't been ruining my life, but they're still a bother. My lips go through cycles of being fine, to being really, really chapped (could this be due to humidity?). I've also been feeling really, really, really tired lately, though this could also be due to my brand new habit of sleeping way past my usual bedtime. And one last weird thing I've been experiencing, which I'm not too sure is related to Epuris at all, is an aching pain in my chest, upper and lower back, and my sides as if I went through an intense workout, or all of my muscles were bruised. All of this started right at the beginning of my treatment; and at first I thought it was due to how I was bending over to reach lower drawers at work or something. I've ruled out any liver or internal organ damage because my blood tests have all come back as normal, so now I'm not sure what can be causing it... I'll ask my derm at my next appointment (which is... tomorrow morning!).

In other, not Epuris-related news, the Pan Am games are in full swing here in TO and the GTA and it is such an exciting time for me because I am a huge fan of (watching) sports. Yesterday, my little brother and I went out to see the morning session of badminton semi-finals.

So bright and colourful!

The atmosphere was amazing! I hadn't thought badminton would be one of those sports were spectators would start hooting and whistling and hollering like say for hockey or soccer... but... it happened. Things really went wild in the men's singles match...

Shoutout to the Canadians playing in the finals tomorrow! We got to watch Michelle Li in action yesterday in her doubles match. She and Rachel Honderich lost, but will be playing each other for gold tomorrow!

We'll also be watching beach volleyball and indoor volleyball in the next few days (and maybe another event? Lemme check my bank account first). If you want to live my Pan Am experience through digital media, you can add me on Snapchat (send me a DM on Instagram or something).

Stay mellow!