guilty as charged

So one of my friends on blogger has started a wild fire of 'guilty pleasures' inspired blogs. I thank her for this because now I know way too much about my friends....well, some of them, lol, but enjoyed the excuse to talk about these little personal tidbits. 
It was also interesting to see people's versions of guilty pleasures. For some it was TMI facts (most of them I didn't want to know) and for others it was more about indulgences, but in the end I suppose these are all synonyms for ~*guilty pleasures*~ so without further ado, here's my version:

1. Staying in all day watching marathons on T.V. (bonus points if it's raining outside)

In Miami, if I could catch a Bravo, Style, or Oxygen Network marathon of some of my favorite shows like ANTM, Project Runway, Top Chef, then I would happily stay in pajama's all day and just watch them back to back. DVR has to be the greatest invention after the iPhone in my book, so pausing to make food or take my dog out meant that I could save up some air time to then fast-forward through the commercials. If I had to go out, then I would DVR it just to watch it later to which my mother would always get annoyed and say ''haven't you seen this like a hundred times!'' and I usually answer ''...not this episode.'' lol. Maybe I'm a bit ADD in that I have to be doing something while watching these shows since they're all repeats for me anyway. Thus I'd be painting my nails, cleaning up my eyebrows, or just web-surfing at the same time. Honestly, I prefer to do this alone, not with company since doing something else at the same time is kind of rude. My dog doesn't count though, in fact, bringing him up on the couch and petting him as he takes a nap is the ultimate way to enjoy this guilty pleasure.

2. Trashy Reality Shows - i.e. Jersey Shore, Real World/Road Rules Challenges, Teen Mom, etc. 

So on the same vein, not just reality T.V., but trashy reality shows. I don't like all the garbage out there, but I do like some of the worst of the worst. lol. Given that the people on these shows live their lives in the complete opposite fashion to mine, I take pleasure in of the petty drama that ensues. If I don't think about the fact that these people are being paid to be this way, I can also feel better about how together my life is. The times that my life has reflected theirs with the petty drama was not the most fun, just the most scandalous. So I'd rather spice up my life with other people's drama instead of the headache of dealing with with my own. More than just watching the shows, I love discussing them with people who I'm usually watching them with or who are at least up-to-date.

3. Juicy Gossip

Oh yes, what girl doesn't? but I'm I don't feel the need to create or incite drama just for the sake of having something to gossip about. So even though I don't prefer to have drama of my own, I have had my own fair share which I inevitably tell my friends who then indulge me with their own stories and opinions on the matter. The best times have been when the gossip is the fulfillment of karma. It just puts a smile on my face for days. ^____^ This is definitely a guilty pleasure, because I more often try to live up to the quote, ''Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people.” (-Eleanor Roosevelt) But hey, great minds needs a mental break every now and then too.

4. Chocolate!

There should really just be a period after that, but I'll elaborate. I happen to have a terrible sweet tooth that I inherited from my father (the man puts brown sugar in his pepsi. o.0). My whole life I've had an athletic figure but I could definitely be more lean if I didn't have this chocolate obsession. I try not to over do it, but I seek chocolate after every meal if not something else sweet. I usually go for a dove dark chocolate nugget or chocolate popsicle but when I do go crazy on a chocolate craze, I loooooooove hard chocolate on chocolate haggen daaz ice cream bars or Godiva truffles eggs. Omg..... 

5. At-Home Facials

One that is similar to a friend of mine's, but is probably more necessary due to my #4. The satisfaction I get from cleaning out my pores makes me feel like I've accomplished something afterwards when my face is a little puffy and red, but smooth. I get professional facials from time to time but it's only a guilty pleasure when I do it myself. I'm a clean freak too, so maybe this is just an extension of that? Unlike my friend though, I don't have to fight the urge to do it to anyone else. When I do it to myself it's cleansing, but to someone else is kinda gross. 

6. Dancing in my room and Singing in my car

Yet another friend had a similar one, so I guess we share the same pleasure :) Usually, if I'm getting ready with plenty of time, I would play the Gaga station on Pandora and dance in between eyeliner, lipstick, mascara...More than dancing I'm somewhat seducing myself in the mirror. lol. But it puts me in the party mood and makes me feel extra sexy-ified when I'm done. ;) There's no Pandora in Japan so this has been a unfortunate absence in my life here..:( 
Singing in my car felt like a similar guilt so I through it in here. I sing in the car with friends but when I'm by myself, I turn up the volume and really exercise my vocal cords. It's very therapeutic, I think. I also get a certain pleasure out of dancing crazy enough to get people in other cars to notice...but never at a red light when they can stare.   

7. Hello Kitty Cell Phone Charms and Sailor Moon Manga

First, Hello Kitty charms. Here in Japan, there is a Hello Kitty charm for any and every reason. She can be dressed as samurai, bathing in an onsen, and everything in between. If I actually tried to collect all of them I would 1. go broke and 2. go crazy. It's impossible since every town and village will some variant of these charms so I limit my HK collecting to places that I've personally visited. Not only that, but if I've already bought the HK charm from that destination, then I won't buy it again. This is totally a guilty pleasure cause I just can't resist considering these little charms are on average ￥500 each (about $7.00) and they will serve no purpose once I leave Japan. Ah, so cute. 
Next, Sailor Moon manga. I grouped these together because for each of them I am powerless to do nothing but buy them once I see them. When I was younger and anime-related items were scarce, this kind of  feeling extended to all anime merchandise from stickers to shows. However, now that I can get anything anime at anytime on the internet and in the place I'm living a.k.a anime central, my compulsive urge to buy anime merchandise has been reduced to Sailor Moon manga. I adore that anime. It holds the special place in my heart as being my first anime and real introduction to Japan. So although I don't decorate my personal belongings with Sailor Moon or draw her bunny everywhere (ahem, what? lol), I'm a moonie for life and I can't resist the beautiful artwork on all of the different manga versions. It's all the same story, but I have three sets of different covers to date and am always on the look out for the next one. <3 

8. Gushy, Angsty Romance Stories

If you can't picture this right away I'll help you out in one word that put you in the frame of mind: Twilight! lol, but not only this kind of ''do anything, you are the reason I exist'' kind of love. I just love a good love story where the guy does the sweetest things and the girls try to play it cool but are completely swept away. Throw in some angst and Mmmmph! Put the girl in danger where the guy has to save her, or introduce a love interest and you send me over the edge. I just about died reading the Rurouni Kenshin manga for the first time in eighth grade. The main character thinks his love is DEAD and just emotionally shuts down for a while until his friends tell him she's alive. He goes and almost dies himself to save her but they are able confesses their love (after 28 books!) when the dust settles. THEN, fastforward to years later after they have a kid and he's contracted TB. He's on his final mission and is so sick that he's not going to make it home BUT his love his on her way to him!! (she contracted TB as well, cause DUH!, you don't love someone unless you're willing to be put at risk to contract their disease) and HE DIES IN HER ARMS. AHHHHHH!!! (mind you I'm smiling like an idiot at the memory of reading this right now). More than Twilight which gets a lot of crap for Edward being too perfect (which he is), this anime series epitomizes the kind of stuff that makes me go weak at the knees. I spent the better half of my Jr. High years gushing at fanfictions depicting this kind of romance between my favorite anime characters of anime..and I regret nothing! XD

9. Facebook/Twitter/Pinterest/Tumblr

Although this may seem commonplace, realize that none of us *need* to check these sites daily (like I mostly do) or spend so many hours on them. I could probably be fluent in Japanese by now if I spent the time studying that I do on these sites. *le sigh* That's why it's a guilty pleasure. 

10. Modeling Party of One

A friend of mine says I always come out good in pictures (I don't agree at all) but she asked me what I do, so all I could think of is that when the mood strikes (and my hair and makeup came out really good) I sometimes have photo sessions with myself so I've learned some of my angles. Going along with this, I also take pleasure in modeling but since I'm not really of model height or proportion, I'd rather take pictures of myself so that I can pose around the frame instead guess what angle the shot is being taken at. When you're limited to where you can perch your camera, the shots and angles become limited, but I enjoy it nonetheless. Obviously many of you have never seen these copious amounts of picture of me (save for all those posed shots in front of locations on my facebook, lol) but the archives exist. My boyfriend joked when he bought me a point-and-shoot camera that has a lens on the back and the front, that it was made for me. Soon after, the iPhone 4 came out and then I just had too many mediums to easily take pictures of myself with.

There you go! 10 guilty pleasures of this muse, spj! Maybe these weren't the most riveting or shocking but I'm not going to spill my secret single behavior just for your reading pleasure... pervs. lol. Hope you enjoyed! ^.^v