Album Unboxing #6: "Mixtape: The Pre-Debut Album" by Stray Kids

Hello, everyone! How is everything going for everybody? Good and amazing I hope. Now that we have our greetings out of the way, I'm here to bring you all yet another album unboxing! I've actually been building my collection over the past couple of months so I have a bit of a backlog of these still yet to be posted so I really hope some of you guys are looking forward to seeing more that I have coming your way over the next few weeks. I'm going to try spacing them out a little so no one gets bored of just seeing nothing but unboxings.

Okay, now then, let's start off with a little backstory first of how I become pretty much an over-night fan of this new group who call themselves "Stray Kids".

Back in October, I believe, I was just scrolling through the internet and watching videos on YouTube that looked interesting (new Kpop music videos, binge watching hair dye videos, some Mr. Nightmare videos, you know the normal stuff) and I stumbled upon a new music video that I hadn't seen before or heard ANYONE mention or talk about on my social medias. I decided to check it out and upon watching the video's ending, I realized I found my new favorite group to stan. 

STAN TALENT, Y'ALL.

And, well, the rest is history. Before I knew it, I was pre-ordering their first album, watching interviews and television programs of this group, saving pictures of them to my Pinterest boards, and becoming a full on fangirl for a group I knew nothing about.

OKAY THEN. Backstory over. Let's get into the unboxing.

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BEHOLD, the album! It was actually a pretty large sized album, it being taller and wider than I thought it would be. It's actually quite a nice size and could easily be mixed in with my coffee table books, hehehe. Anyhoo, this album came with some fun things so let's move onto those next.

Here we have the pretty CD itself safely tucked in the back of the album book as well as a photocard/postcard set of all the members.

I especially love flipping through these booklets and finding little surprises inside, it feels like Christmas.

Here are few more photos of some of the pictures inside the picture booklet. I'm such a fan of black and white photographs so I had a really fun time looking through most of them. All of the pictures in the book are of the members in a candid setting or place which was really cute to see since it felt like a scrapbook that was made by really good friends. It gave a fluffy feeling to my heart and actually made me miss my friends a little bit.

The tracklist, photo card sets and poster were all neatly tucked into the first few pages of the book which made me very happy since there's nothing I hate more than bent edges and dent marks on albums and pictures. Well, okay, I REALLY hate stickers that won't peel off books. And broccoli. I really hate broccoli. Anyway, NOT THE POINT.

I think I'll jump into showing the single photocards next. Here's a picture of both the front and backs of the cards. I don't know why but I really love the logo for this group. It's seriously so cool and I'm kind of obsessed with it.

JUST LOOK AT THAT FONT. I'm a font nerd, I can't help it, okay?

And now for the bigger postcard size photocards! I normally love getting just the little ones since they kind of remind me of playing cards or trading cards but I also love getting big ones every now and then. The pictures are rather nice in the concept though they reminded me of just how UNCOOL I really am. Leave it to a single photo to insult your very existence, ha ha ha. *Clears throat.* Moving on.

And here is the bonus set of photocards that I got with this album as a pre-order gift, Yay! Now these are probably my favorite set that I've received so far with an album. I don't know, they just look so edgy and nice with the simple background and bright red of it.

Plus the group picture is squad goals.

And now for the poster! I forgot to add the actual album into the picture for size reference but since the posters are always big anyway in the albums I get, just assume this another huge one. Because it is. Sorry for the strange angle of this too, I took the picture in the evening and only used my floor lamp as lighting. My overhead light cast too much of a glare and was way too yellow to edit out and make look nice. I obviously could've just waited until morning to take a picture in the natural lighting but I like making my life harder than it has to be so yeah, here we are. Enjoy.

And that is officially it for this post! I really hope you guys enjoyed this album unboxing since it was super fun for me to put together. I also tried out a different way of laying out my pictures so as to make the post a little shorter and not have to upload so many pictures. Let me know if you guys like this layout better or not. I'm quite liking it so I think I'll stick with it for the next few unboxings.

Previous Album Unboxings:

Album Unboxing #1: "Verse 2" by JJProject

Album Unboxing #2: "Hola Hola" by KARD

Album Unboxing #3: "Love Yourself 承 'Her'" by BTS

Album Unboxing #4: "7for7" by GOT7 (Magic Hour and Golden Hour Versions)

Album Unboxing #5: "7for7" by GOT7 (Present Edition)

Okay my peeps, I'll say by for now until my next post. Read on, bookworms! See you in the next chapter!

Time For Changes: Life Updates, Blog Redesign, New Content + More!

Hello. everybody! I hope every one of you is having a beautiful day so far! I know I'm having a grand time watching the Winter Olympics this year as it has pretty much consumed every moment of my evenings and I'm not even mad. It's so fun and entertaining and I can't wait to see more of the sports and programs up ahead. I've yet to miss a single moment of the Olympics so it's safe to say I'm a tiny bit obsessed.

ANYHOO, I thought today would be a nice day to talk about some changes that I've decided on to make for this blog. I'll try not to make this post too long but there a few things I want to quickly talk to you guys about so let's just go ahead and jump right in, shall we?

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First, let's go over all that has happened over the past four months that I've been away from my blog. Wow, where to start. Surprisingly, quite a lot happened though it feels like everything has just blurred together to create one big mess of a memory. I guess the first big life update is that I recently started a new job back in late November after leaving my first job of one year. It seems I had no chill after leaving my first job since I started my new one literally a week later. Did NOT mean to do that lol XD

But you should all be happy to know that everything is going great so far at my new job. I'm totally enjoying it a lot more than I did my first job so that's a great sign! I also recently got my second promotion at my second job which was quite nice. It's not a huge deal to be honest but I'm still happy I've moved up a little bit. Another small update that I have is the incredibly obvious one, I got a new laptop.

The model I have now is actually doubling as two devices that I've been wanting and dreaming of having for a while now. Not only having a newer model laptop but also a drawing tablet for graphic illustrations. The model laptop I have has a 360 degree screen, meaning I can open my laptop and flip the screen and practically fold my computer in half to create a tablet. I already have a couple of different graphic illustrator applications and programs downloaded onto my laptop so all that's left is purchasing a stylus to make drawing and painting on my device a lot easier.

I've actually decided to focus on practicing graphic illustration for a while as I think it might be what I want to study in college but I'm still unsure. Hopefully I can get in some good practice over the next few months and maybe I'll share some of what I draw on my blog. I guess time will tell :)

OKAY, NOW A BLOG UPDATE!

I have a whole list I've been working on for the past couple of weeks, so get comfortable. One of the first major changes I'll be making to this blog is the design of it. I used to be totally in love with my blue and white theme but then I thought it was time to change it. So, I DID! I hope you guys are loving the new pink, white and blue I have going on for this new theme. I think it's good for me to change the theme every now and then, especially since it's a new year, new laptop, new me, new blog. Yeah, that sounds nice and it makes me happy inside.

I also want to establish a blogging schedule for myself SO I decided that I will be posting something new every MONDAY. Sound good? I'll obviously try to post more often than just the one day but I think I'll be able to for sure keep up with posting once a week at the very least. Any bonus posts that I decide to upload will go up on Thursdays.

NEW CONTENT?!

OKAAAAAYYYYY. So. This is something that I've been kind of beating around the bush about even before the new year. I know I kept saying in past blog posts that I was going to make some changes with content and include more of the things that interest me other than books. I still love books, don't get me wrong. I will always love books and everything about reading and writing. I still get all fluffy inside when I think about what book I should read next. However, I never REALLY added any new content besides album unboxings. Even doing that was a huge step for me and a bit nerve-wracking. I thought "What if no one reads it? What if no one likes it? What if it doesn't interest anyone? What if even my fellow blogger friends hate it?" Because you know what the scariest part of being a book blogger is? BRANCHING OUT.

Over the past few months, I've gotten interested in a few different things that I would talk about more on my blog. It's definitely scary and worrisome to want to talk about things OTHER than what your blog is dedicated to. However, I also don't want to be one of those people who does the same thing that every other book blogger does. It's great if they enjoy doing that, some of my favorite blogs literally only talk about books and nothing else and I love it. But for me personally, I just feel like doing something different to make my blog stand out a little. 

For instance I am such a HUGE fan of Latin pop and Kpop. They are two genres that I have become obsessed with in the last year and I love finding other people who listen to those genres too. I'm always running into people who listen to my favorite Kpop and Latin artists and it's always fun fangirling with perfect strangers about your favorite international artists. I kept trying to convince myself to make playlists of my favorite Kpop or Latin pop songs at the moment, or just simply sharing a song for the day. But I was just too nervous about it because I was so scared of no one liking it, especially since my blog is called "The BOOKWORM Central".

So, to try introducing this new subject to my blog, I uploaded my first Kpop album unboxing. And held my breathe.

Me clicking "Publish" for my Kpop album unboxing post lol

AND THEN I TOOK A BLOGGING BREAK.

I took these past four months to consider what I wanted for my blog overall. And I decided that I was unhappy with how I was going about my blog, not posting for weeks at a time because I didn't feel like it or just simply not being interested in what I was blogging about and ending up deleting a post that I had worked hours on putting together. I noticed, however, the posts I enjoyed writing the most were my unboxings. I wondered what it was about them that made them so enjoyable to write even though they took twice as long to write and layout versus my book reviews and other bookish posts. 

It took me forever to realize that the reason why I liked my unboxings the most was because they involved me talking about something I was one hundred percent interested in and passionate about. My interest in Kpop, Latin pop, and Kdramas makes me excited to watch them or listen to them and I LOVE talking about it with other people I know that are interested in the same things. Having realized this, I thought "Why am I scared to post this stuff that I'm interested in? If I'm interested in it, then someone else is too, right?" 

Maybe I was just nervous about letting down my current readers that aren't interested in those things. However, I'm human and I'm allowed to have other interests and so is every other blogger out there. I think that's what makes blogging so fun, is that it's a platform where you can be you! Other people are interested in what you have to post because, crazy reality check, people read your blogs FOR A REASON. Book lovers are going to read your book blog because they WANT TO. Bakers and cooks are going to read your recipes you post because they WANT TO. Artists and beginner sketchers and painters are going to read your posts on paints and papers and your favorite mediums because they WANT TO. You're never going to write posts for people who aren't interested because there is ALWAYS someone out there who will find your post entertaining and wanting to see more! So, okay, maybe you lose a few followers once you start posting something new and different. BUT, what about those few NEW readers that you didn't have before that found your blog BECAUSE of your different posts and they fall in love with your content?

AND THAT, my beautiful folks, is how I decided that from this day on, I will be posting more about Kpop, Latin pop, my favorite Kdramas, ALONG with posts about what I'm currently reading and favorite books of the month and so on and so on. Because why hold back and NOT talk about what interests me these days? I talk to my friends ALL THE TIME about my favorite things at the moment and even though they aren't into the same things I am, they still listen to me talk about it because THEY WANT TO. They know that it's something I love and am passionate about and they never act like they're bored or tired of me talking about some groups they've never heard of and play them songs in a language they don't know a lick of. If anything, they request Kpop and Latin pop songs to play in our car rides because they think it's funky and fun.

So, yes, please expect more posts about the things listed above and PLEASE don't hate me! I'm just ready to branch out and completely open up to making my blog more diverse and unique. Hopefully, I can entertain some of you as I try to figure this blog out all over again. This is going to be fun. 

Read on, bookworms! See you in the next chapter!

Album Unboxing #5: "7for7" by GOT7 (Present Edition)

Hello, everybody!! Wow, it's been quite A WHILE since I've blogged ANYTHING but that's because of life and, well, I exploded my laptop and was laptopless for about four months. So yeah. That happened.

BUT I AM SO READY FOR BLOGGING.

It's so nice to be able to return to this beautiful world of blogging and now that I have officially made my return to this here blog, I plan on doing some MAJOR changes to it. I'll be talking a little bit more about what I plan on changing about my blog in the next post so if you're at all interested in seeing what I have planned for my blog, PLEASE STAY TUNED. Don't worry, I can say that I will still be blogging about books and all things bookish . . . just maybe not as much. Again, all the details will be in my upcoming blog post.

ANYHOO, now that I've talked for a little bit and got some important stuff out of the way, I thought it would be perfect to return to my little blog after far too long with one of my favorite things to blog about, AN ALBUM UNBOXING. Get hype, because I said so!

For those of you who actually like my unboxings, THANKS FOR READING! I actually have quite a few albums I'll be unboxing over the next few days because, well, I took pictures of them on my phone but of course had no way of actually uploading a post as I didn't have a laptop. SO. Be prepared to see probably way too many unboxings over the next few days. I'M CELEBRATING OKAY? LET ME LIVE.

Okay I'll shut up now, let's get started.

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SOOOOOOOOOOOOO, I recently had a birthday in December and it was so fitting that this version of GOT7's "7for7" album was titled "Present Edition". I know this was supposed to be because it was right before Christmas that this album was released BUT I took it was a sign that I should probably buy it for myself since, well, it was my birthday and I DESERVE HAPPINESS. What made it even better about having gotten early birthday money that I used to buy this album was simply that this album came only a day after my birthday!

Also the next day after getting the album, I got to celebrate my birthday and my best friend's birthday at Six Flags with two other besties and it was probably the greatest day of my life. Lots of laughs and fun and OMG I LOVE MY FRIENDS.

Okay, back to the album.

The aesthetic of this album was seriously so pleasing to the eyes. I love winter scenes in movies, photos, books, etc, so this was right up my alley. Sometimes I wish I lived where it snowed everyday in the winter just so I can take endless pictures of the frozen trees and play in the snow all day long, it would be beautiful. Anyone else feel me with the snow thing? It's just so pretty, okay.

I love the little cute things that sometimes come in albums because sometimes they're just so adorable. Like this little card thing that came inside the booklet. On the front is a little perforated flap with the group's logo on it and when you open it up, it's a little holiday greeting. How cute is that?

I actually tore a little bit of the inside picture as you can see in the picture so just ignore that part. A little bit of tape never hurt anybody.

Even though I didn't get this for Christmas, I still loved the little greeting!

And now the photocards!! What's really cool about this edition of the album is that it came with these really big photocards that are actually little calendars on the back. It also had this card thing in which you put the cards in to hold the calendar cards, almost like a normal agenda book you get at other stores.

You can write your plans and activities for the month and just switch out the cards once the month is up. I don't actually plan on using the calendar cards since I really don't want to write on them but rather save them and keep them nice and new and pretty but it's such a cool little idea. 

And now the smaller photocards! I actually lost the picture of the two singular photocards and was too lazy to take another picture so yeah. But I did still have a picture of the back of them which were little doodles of each other done by two of the members which is just so cute. I love collecting these little photocards even though I have no idea what to do with them. I've yet to think of anything creative to do with them but maybe one day I'll think of something!

The album also came with another huge poster and just like before, I'm too lazy to take a picture of the actual poster, so here's a picture I found on the internet of what it looks like, good enough right?

Yes, I do have three versions of the same album, don't judge me. If you guys want to see the unboxings of the other two versions of this album, here all the linky links:

Unboxing: 7for7 by GOT7 (Magic Hour and Golden Hour Versions)

SO THAT'S IT FOR THIS UNBOXING! I really hope you guys enjoyed this post! Once again, I do have an update post coming up very soon regarding all the changes I plan on making to this blog such as content, layout, a post schedule, and a few other things. I'll also be letting you all know some life updates as well just in case you are interested in my weird little self and what I've been up to lately! Okay, I think that's it for now. Read on, bookworms! See you in the next chapter!

Previous Album Unboxings:

Album Unboxing #1: "Verse 2" by JJProject

Album Unboxing #2: "Hola Hola" by KARD

Album Unboxing #3: "Love Yourself 承 'Her'" by BTS

Album Unboxing #4: "7FOR7" by GOT7 (Magic Hour Version and Golden Hour Version)

HELLO, 2018, I'M BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!

EXCUSE THE HORRIBLE EDITING, I'M FIGURING THIS OUT AS I GO OKAY.

What up my beautiful lovely human peeps!! YOUR HOMEGIRL IS BACK ON THE BLOGOSPHERE!!!! For those of you who didn't notice I disappeared for almost four months, . . . um, hi.

ANYWAY, let me tell you why I disappeared off the face of the earth from this little blog of mine. So. Cute story. I spilled hot tea on my laptop of five years and it exploded. 

The end.

It was a very sad occasion. After having spilled said tea on said laptop, I quite honestly had a mini meltdown. I was already in a huge blogging and reading slump and was not prepared for having a dead laptop and losing everything on it including some precious pictures of my artwork over the past few years, a million laugh worthy and tear worthy GIFS (I know, I know, there are bigger things to worry about than lost GIFS, I KNOW,) and to top it off, I was honestly in no rush AT ALL to get a new laptop.

I really wanted to wait until I found the perfect laptop for me since it is a pretty big investment to slap down a thousand dollars for a screen with fancy buttons when I'm trying to save money for a million other things in life. ANYHOO, after four months of picking up extra shifts here and there at work, saving my money like a little chipmunk with nuts in winter, and doing research on laptops, I FINALLY BOUGHT ONE. 

It's pretty and fancy and silver and sparkles and is EVERYTHING I WANT. 

So, yeah, that's my little run down of what happened BUT nothing much has changed since then. Oh, except I got a new job and dyed my hair blue, black, teal and it is now currently black AND red. Yay. I'm still very much addicted to coffee, Stranger Things and Criminal Minds are still my favorite shows and I'm still binge watching all the Kdramas and listening to literally all of the kpop and eating all the Oreos in sight. Yes. Okay BYYYYEEEEE!!!