looks like my blog was down for a bit. i'll be catching up over the weekend. plenty to report from my adventures in la over the past week.

Bluestar Exchange - Clothing for Clones

x told me that the my "dead ringer" clones were at a hk store called bluestar exchange. it's an old navy type store, with giordano being the hk gap. if anyone ever goes to hk, please try to check out their stores! if i were there, i'd try to talk to the manager and figure out who was making these clones of me. i was in hk and china a few years ago in 98. also i was in that sausalito movie. maybe someone saw me and got inspired. ha.

Ad School Students

thur nite i again visited the ad school. i sat in on the "on-target creative" class. it was just ok, but i got a lot out of chatting with the students at the end. especially m and e, who told me their experience interning at red sky and their prespective on the school. they also gave me a tip about a minority internship, something that the admissions person here told me nothing about. it turns out that the house they live in is only about 10 blocks away from me and also close to scbc, so i gave them a ride home. it was nice meeting them and hearing their take on everything.

Bohemian Rhapsody

i liked that song when i heard it in wayne's world, didn't you? anyways...friday nite i went to the bohemian lounge for d's bday. i went up to the door with c to enter, but as i was checking out my wallet to find my id, i realized that it was gone! i suddenly flashed back to the day before when i placed my id in my scanner, and never took it out! aye carumba. the big dude at the door wouldn't let me in. so c went ahead to see if d could pull some strings to let me in. i was doubtful. she came back in a few minutes and told me that she'd walk me back to my car. i thought that was weird, but i went along with it. i was wondering if i should drive home across town to get my id. about half a block down, she gave me someone else's id. i was kinda skeptical, thinking that i couldn't pass for d. altho we're both chinese, our body types and faces are very different! well then i looked down and saw that it was g's id. it's a few years ago, and he's looking sorta studly in the picture starring at the camera. so i went back, the bouncer dude looked at the id, looked at me, then said ok and let me in. pretty cool.

inside the bohemian lounge was ok. dancing on the bottom. drinks, ping pong and pool at the top. after a while the dance floor got kinda packed. this one guy kept bumping into my back and stepping on my heels. he did that to mc also. kind of annoying. i finallly left at 1:30 or so with f and s. f had to drive my car, since i didn't want to run the risk of getting stopped.

Sunny Graduation Sunday

my little sis finally graduated from cal with a business undergrad degree. the graduation was at greek theater in the really warm weather, so i wore a white button shirt and shorts and shoes. (after i changed to white pants that nite, some people wondered why i was dressed in all white. one person said i looked pretty summery.) while we were parking, we lost my grandparents after we dropped them off near the stadium, so i had to run around the area trying to find them. it turns out that they had gone ahead to the stadium to find seats. i had given them yellow cal football pom poms to carry (so that we would see them) but i think they weren't waving them as i had hoped. i was running around haas, until i heard over the walkabout radio that my mom finally found them. phew.

the graduation commencement speaker was david pottruck, president and co-ceo of charles schwab. at first i thought just another business guy who wouldn't be very interesting, but it turns out that he gave the best commencement speech i ever heard. he was pretty entertaining sharing about his life-path going from an aspiring wrestler in school to running the leading online financial institution. he also gave a lot of great advice in terms of learning in life and following your passion. my mom and i both connected to that. some stuff he said...

- his early career choice was a failure in picking the right industry which allow him to stay awake. he shared a story about how people found him sleeping on the ground after a nite on the town. i could connect to that. i've had a huge share of account meetings in which i did the sleepy head bob and droopy eyes. (very embarassing when that happens. especially if your boss and other people on the team see you.)

- you don't have to have the perfect first job. i totally agree with that. it's just a start of a career journey. as long as you can learn from it or gain more skills/experience, it's good. lateral moves are acceptable too early on. if you want to run something, take jobs that no one wants. (also in areas in which you know nothing.)

- one shouldn't be too preoccupied with their friends' better titles and jobs. don't compare yourself to others. use your opportunities to learn and gain more skills/experience. that's very true in terms of my first jobs and preparing me for a creative career.

- watch out for growing industries. a lot of potential there. for him it was schwab's fledging online business. on the flip side of industry trends, there's the internet dot com bubble burst. he said that it was bound to happen and that the best is yet to come. something i believe. it takes one to ride a wave, but creating a wave is what's really important and impressive. something that totally paints my particular industry perspective and situation.

- accept imperfections in yourself. for a while, he claimed to his psychologist that his first failed marriages were from a poor ability to pick a good wife! it's really about relating to people. it was very true in his personal life and work. for me, sometimes i do ok, sometimes i could do a lot better. he later learned to work with everyone. his wife gave him the great advice to "come to every conversation curious." something i know i need to do more.

- he talked about the need to be inspired in what you do. i've definitely been hearing that in a few places.
he shared about how he made the right decision in committing and concentrating on improving his work out in wrestling in school. he went from the worst to the absolute best. his dream was also to be a pro football player. he did get a free agent invitation to miami, but he declined. turns out someone else took that role and is doing quite well now.

- final words of advice - two things you need to succeed
1) WD-40. for if it should move and doesn't.
2) duct tape. if it does move and shouldn't.

The Late Late Service

sunset's evening service started out fine. over 100+ people. i met l, and we chatted about advertising and the pr world. we still need a name for the service. i suggested "the flow" and i think that would really work well for a variety of reasons.

-

I'm Being Cloned in Hong Kong!

x just came back from hk and reported about it on her site. she took a picture of some store-front mannequinns just look like me. it's scary. just like that seinfeld episode with elaine! (i always knew that i had a lot in common with the seinfeld characters.) i almost missed seeing this photo, if it wasn't for yk who im-ed me

yk: LOL...that picture of the mannequin that comabound posted DOES look like you
GW: hmm...i gotta check it out
yk: very funny. even better, there are two mannequins. evil twins.
GW: today's entry?
yk: i think it was yest.
GW: cant find it yest
GW: looking to tuesday now
GW: ha!
yk: it does!!!!
GW: i'm enlarging it now
GW: dang modem,
GW: whoa
GW: how funny
yk: hee hee
GW: holy cow
yk: congratulations, you have successfully branded your image.
GW: i need to go to hong kong now
GW: it's like that seinfeld episdoe
yk: i don't know about the seinfeld episode...or perhaps i did see it.
yk: is madame tussaud's next????
GW: tussaud?
yk: the wax museum in london.
GW: i'm glad you told me.
i read her site yesterday...but the pix were loading too slowly...
that i didnt read too closely and missed it
GW: i'm gonna save this image
yk: it's a gem.
yk: and at least you agree. :-)
GW: yep. big eyes. spikey hair.
GW: i wouldnt wear my sleeves rolled up tho. looks a little gay.
yk: you'll have to go over to HK and re-fashion those evil twins.
yk: or, shall i say, triplets?
GW: ha ha

definitely a sureal experience.

some random catchup entries in reverse chronological order...

Shrek

ds hooked it up with the a preview screening pass at metreon tonite. i got there about 90 min early to get in online (since i was denied last time i went to catch a snatch screening), and there were over 50 people in line already! well, we still got pretty decent seats to see shrek. the dreamworks movie is a fantasy adventure which has an ogre named shrek (voiced by austin powers himself, mr. mike meyers) and "donkey" (voiced by eddie murphy) on an adventure to save a princess fiona (cameron diaz) from a dragon and an evil lord somebody (who purposely looks like the head of disney...will somebody).

the animation was great. the movie was funny. the way the plot developed wasn't much of a surprise tho. it was cool seeing so many characters from classic and recognizable fairy tales integrated into the story. go see it! i bumped into a couple of people there...k and h. h is going to be an extra on the matrix...lucky dog. he got fitted already.

A.G. Ferari and La Fayette

i was out in la fayette for an interview with a marcom freelance staffing agency. before that i went to a.g. ferrari for a quick bite close by. it's a chain of italian food delis, but the first time that i went to one of them. the people there were so nice and helpful. extremely friendly. i guess it's b/c i was in la fayette. the food was pretty good too. later on when i went to gas up at a local gas station, the guy was really helpful too. it was as if i were in pleasantville.

Hip Hoppping to Janet

yesterday i finally made it out to the hip hop class taught at the gym. i've been meaning to try for a while. after almost not making it, i got to the class 10 min late. there weren't too many people...maybe only a dozen. probably because the class starts at 4:30 in the afternoon. most people who take it are either students or unemployed! after some stretches and crunching on the bare hardwood floor (funny that there were no mats used), we started stepping to "so vain" on the new janet jackson cd. very cool. this was the 4th class, that the instructor was working on the song, so i was a bit behind. i got the ending part down tho. it was a lot of fun, and made me break a sweat. afrofunk is probably more of a workout, but i liked the music for this class. i could probably use these dance movies more often too. i think i'm going to try to go regularly on mondays and fridays. next class they start a new song.

north beach restaurant

last week i went to north beach restaurant in sf with my po po. we shared an order of escargots. she ordered sand dabs while i ordered the chef's creation - veal saltimbocca alla burno. delicious stuff. we ate around 5 and ended up here because the first couple of places on our list didn't open up til 5:30.

Lost Candidate

i heard from a contact at a casting agency that there was going to be a casting call on saturday for the upcoming NBC reality show - Lost. i went there with my friend ds...hoping to make it. i filled out the application on the web and took it very seriously. i was prepared to tell them on video different reasons why i thought i would be good for the show. reasons like...my life resolution to try new and different things, having a travel bug, having the ability to communicate across language barriers, being competitive, being obeservant and watchful like a detective, and being very familar with being lost...often times in the parking lot. i was even thinking of singing or something too. but when we went to the casting call...they process people in groups. we were in groups of 10 people, and a casting agent would moderate the discussion some. if we were there earlier in the day...they probably would have spent 10 minutes with us in groups, but since we came late they only spent 5 min with us. ds and i don't think that we shone in our groups. it was a unique experience trying to be outgoing and talkative in a random grouping of 10 people. a little tough. maybe i'll send in a video and do my song and spiel.

Quinn's Lighthouse

i met up with ay (recently engaged!) and jy today. under my suggestion, we went to Quinn's Lighthouse on embarcadero cove in oakland. it was listed in the paper as a great place for an outdoor view, burger, and brew. we ate on the upper deck, which was covered in littered peanut shells. the day was amazing. weather hot. sunny. umbrella providing shade. light breeze. ok view. you can see one of those loading white cranes for transport ships on the water. had a great burger. j treated the meal. it was a pretty good time. i'd definitely go back.

The Lost Daughter of Happiness

afterwards, we kicked it a bit back in berkeley. i walked down memory lane on the berkeley campus with j. i was going to go to a book reading by margaret cho later on, but i discovered that it happened the nite before. phooey. but they did have another reading tonite, and by a famous asian author too. geling yan (who i never heard of before) who was a famous author in china and wrote the work which was made into Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl. i never saw that movie...but heard enough to know that it was supposed to be good. her new book (her first novel to be published in english) is set in san francisco chinatown in the 1860s. (close to the time of my first american ancesters!)

a young kidnapped woman from china, fusang, is a chinese prostitue here and has chris, a 12 year old white boy, as her first customer. it's supposed to be an epic and moving love story (which will be a movie)...filled with prejudice and mistrust, indicative of the times. at the reading, i learned some about the times back then...like a gang rape, a chinatown riot, the young age of chinese prostitutes (<20), and race relations at the time. very interesting stuff. i ended up buying her book and getting it signed. i dunno when i'll find time to read it tho. maybe it will ignite more of an interest in me to document and write about my family's backstory (which i've been intending to do for a couple of years).

Florio

sunday i had dinner with my po po and stayed over nite to keep her company. we had dinner at Florio on Fillmore. it has the feel of a quaint french bistro. i picked it from looking up in french/italian places on vindigo. it had a pretty good rating on zagat. turned out to be a really great choice. we had a great cream of mushroom/broth soup, salad, and the salmon special. the place got pretty packed at around 8ish. nice decor. sorta a romantic setting too. each of the tables have a small candle. we noticed that the final receipt had an item listing for "fire" which cost $0.00. pretty clever.

Life Advice and a Growth Manifesto

i spent all of sunday and monday with her. i got the chance to share her my choices ahead of me about going to design school and how it's the smart thing to do in order to be good and the given state of the industry. the tricky thing i'm facing now is which school? move away? differnt options have different durations, different opportunites, different qualities and breadth, and different costs (which means different amounts of debt i would be taking on from loans). it sure is a lot to think about.

it kept me up sunday nite til 3am just comparing the different catalogs and charting out the different options of three differen choices possibly open to me. it takes a bit of explaining for people to understand that it's not just some decision based on a whim, b/c i don't know what i'm doing... but actually a path that i've been following (and which has just been made clearer) ever since i graduated from college. i think going to school would be the best thing for me to grow personally and towards my career goal. my decision may be complicated, as it seems that i may finally be soon seeing some employment doors opening up to me after quite some time...but we'll see.

i chatted with my uncle k, who is a famous photographer and was a magazine creative director. he's living in la and succeded in his creative path thru discipline in choosing to follow his passion and great discipline. he's self-taught and knew more on his own than any photography school could have taught him. he had an amazing amount of discipline. i know it's possible to be successful creatively on a do-it-yourself path like he did only if you are extremely dedicated and disciplined. if you can put in the same amount of energy and seek out the same amount of stimulation and growth on your own compared to being in school, then you'll be successful. i know i can't do it on my own like he can. i don't think that's really a self-defeatist attitude (since i am a pretty optimistic guy), but a realistic one...especially looking back on the last year or so.

one path that might work out well...and allow me to stay here in the bay area for a bit longer would let me take school at nite, work some during the day, let me travel later on, give me internship opportunities, not cost too much....but not be completely thorugh, so i'd have to build upon the foundation with some disciplined determination to improve myself. another choice is in so cal, close to three years, majorly expensive (incurring debt and loans most likely), but could be my "ticket to do anything i want to do" and "the best decision i could ever make." choices...choices....choices...

the other day, i came across an incomplete manifesto for growth by bruce mao, a mondo-famous designer. advice for the creative process, design and life. a lot of it seems pretty smart. i still gotta figure out how to further internalize a lot of this stuff. i'll print this out and post it somewhere to read. i gave a copy to my po po also.

Realtor for a day

i helped out f's mom to house sit for an hour and a half when some perspective agents came by to check out the property. she needed someone last minute, and paid me $50 to help her out (which helped me out a bit, too). it was a house on 18th ave, belonging to an old chinese grandma. (i saw here leave the house.) it was very interesting to walk around the house and play sherlock about the people that lived there.

the house was pretty clean. decoration was a bit like my grandparent's place, but even more chinese decorations. the mantle had the statues of the three famous old chinese guys (sages? wise men? i dunno) and a fourth statue of some lady. i noticed that there was li-see envelopes underneath two of them. chinese sayings were posted on the wall. a few framed. several were just printed on red paper with gold foil and just taped to the wall with scotch tape. there would often be there of them topgether. i thought that was odd. i noticed also that these same writings were posted in the same manner in the bedroom. and again in the same room on a different wall! i wonder if it's to ward off evil spirits. it was posted high. in the bedroom there was a statue of an angry redish guy. kinda scary. he's pointing his finger down at something. i went to the second bedroom, and there were the sayings again. pretty funny.

it was interesting exercising my powers of observation...i gathered that there was a grandkid that often visited by the presence of a few toys, that the lady (or couple) is pretty clean and takes off her shoes (altho i and the realtors didn't bother), someone likes to read about statistics, politics, and some other academic subjects. i thought it was strange that there were absolutely no pictures up anywhere. i wonder if that's standard, when you open up your place for a showing, or if that's just how the people living there are. the place also smelled like chinese herbs or medicine, something like my grandparents' place. i don't really like that smell too much. the entertainment set was old fashioned...no dvds or cds, just a record player, cassette and stereo. tv and vcr too of course.

downstairs there was an in-law. the girl who lives there likes jazz music, is a student, and studies painting. realtors kept asking me how much the in-law rents for. it was sorta cozy. bedroom/living room, kitchenette, dining table/study.

it was pretty easy work just sitting there. most people assumed that i lived there. i was just on the couch reading my book about tollesson design. (interesting stuff i'm learning about the exploration process of design.) i wrapped up a little late, b/c of some late people stopping by. i went down to lock all the doors, and when i came up the old lady was back. she spoke chinese. i speak english. we said hi. that's about it. i said bye, bye and left.

i got back to my car and noticed some piece of paper jammed in by the front on the hood. yep, it's my lucky day. i got a $30 parking ticket. doh! the metermaid got me at 12:30. i arrived at 11:45. sigh...oh well. at least i came out slightly ahead. so i only got $20 (and this new experience) in the end for 2 hours work. shucks.