rejuvenating mode

i'm back. got my energy sucked out of me this week. 13 hours of sleep over three days does that to you. i haven't resorted to too much caffeine yet. mostly b/c my stockpile of bottle starbucks frappachinos is currently depleted. i do however have a case of the hansen's energy drink (which you can get at costco). it's good stuff. drinking one today after a day of work made me feel like i woke up from a two hour nap.

i intend to catch up on a lot of stuff and get my life in order somewhat. my room...slowly the mess is decreasing. my hair...gotta cut it. (and soon, if i wanna do it before the new year...but that's never stopped me before.) my work...i need to stop playing last minute catch-up and have a productive weekend for once. i hope to find some time to refocus on god too...before going to church. maybe tomorrow.

gung hay

i'm all alone down here now. took j the roomie to the airport tonite. i'm going to spend chinese new year all by myself tomorrow. that's kinda interesting, especially since the new year is a huge deal for both sides of the family, and i would usually have a buttload of new year dinners and meals to go to. i'd have multiple meals with the fam clan, family associations, and friends. i'll see em soon enough tho to celebrate it tho...just a little bit into the new year. i'll see em to open it in time to get my li see, too. i'm gonna miss seeing the parade, tho.

so with the new year...it's a good time to be refreshed and reordered. especially since i missed my chance with the roman calendar new year. a year ago i had the brilliant plan to make my own chinese new year cards and to use em to be in touch with people and to schmooze. didn't send out a single card. sigh...maybe next year.

now that i'm all alone this weekend, i really need to remember to lock the apartment door. i live in a good neighborhood, but i don't know what kinda guys might be watching me. (see previous post.)

roaming around k-town

hung out with lyla last nite for her belated birthday. i took the really long, and unnecssarily once circular route to k-town. i also unnecessarily explored glendale earlier that nite. (i can't believe that i couldn't find both of my area maps in my car when i needed them.) ate at bcd tofu house on western in k-town. it's a small franchise down here. pretty good stuff. i had the bibimbap tofu dish. the bibimbap wasn't in crispy rice tho. the crispy crusty rice remainings (in another bowl) were saved...and water was poured into it. j told me that it stews and brews during the meal...to make sort of a rice soup dessert. that was just ok.

along the way we saw a crazy, huge kfc near k-town. it looked like it could have been a church!

i never realized that k-town is so big. i need to go back there sometime and take pictures of the funny asian, oriental-style looking signage up.

busy friday

woke up really early today when i got a phone call at 8 am, so i didn't get to sleep in til 9:30 like i had hoped. friday is usually the day i catch up on my sleep after a busy week...before heading into work for the day...after heading to school...then to the office to find out that no one was there...then back to school...then back to the office after getting a call that the office guys were there. sigh. today was a busy day at work. i had to design about 30 cd labels. put my typography class to good use. i really hate the paper misfeed problems on the cheap inkjet printers.

ate dollar chinese food for lunch. i should have gotten something with some greens. after the day of work...i crashed at home for about 15 minutes, drank a hansen's energy drink, then took off to take j to the airport. along the way...we tried to find our way in glendale to get food...just to get lost. again...so we ended up getting some greek food at the media city center food court. the next couple of hours were spent at home. it was nice catching up on the phone with some people. earlier i was wishing that i had mad plans tonite...but it was nice to spend it doing smaller quieter stuff. (no homework done tho...darn the heck.)

lending out my ti-book, so no updates tomorrow. i shouldn't spend the time online anyways. so much to do. but check back here late sunday nite/monday morning for my weekly la life pix!

it's now time to go cut my hair and my good luck away!

maybe he got the wrong car

found a note on my windshield this morning...

you looked cute the other morning.
call me.
patrick.
pgr. XXX-XXXX.

ewwww!

4 hours of sleep last nite. things are normalizing again! that's not really a good thing. but at least i'm not really tired.

lots of quick hits for today...

materials shop class

fine plaster all of my hands and clothes does not feel good. glad i had my charcoal-filter mask on.
(dad, i need more!)

lunch from the 4 food groups

broke my low-grease diet and succumbed to two pieces of church's chicken for 99 cents. it was their tuesday special! i drank some naked "green machine" juice for my fruits and veggies. had a couple packaged sticks of cheese for dairy. (i thought it was string cheese when i bought it from costco...but it's just packaged cheese stick segments.) and for my grains i had a bunch of wheat thins.

i resisted getting a burrito or torta from martiza's on the way home. mmm...that woulda been good.

lost around baldwin park

i had to drop off my returned printer to the ups station in baldwin park. dang online directions got me lost around los puente and city of industry.

now cozy for overnite crashers

i just bought a neat, firm black futon sleeper chair to stick in the corner of our living room next to my new ikea floor lamp. (ikead doesn't carry inexpensive futon sleeper chairs.) it was $69 out the door. on sale from this neighborhood place b/c they lost their lease...altho i don't really trust those "sales" too much...but i couldn't find it cheaper anywhere else online.

we don't really need another chair (altho it will be the ideal reading spot in the living room now). but i wanted to get it just so that our place would be more hospitable to people who crash overnite at our place. (i've often been on the receiving end of such hospitality this past year. even my past home stay, i ended up spontaneously crashing out on my buds' couch...so it's only right that i do likewise and pay it forward to other people.)

too bad if it's more than one person staying over. the second person will have to be on the floor or our short loveseat couch.

so now with lots of food in the fridge and a nice futon fold out sleeper chair...our place can be a little more of a haven for any pal who needs to crash. spur of the moment or planned far in advance. it doesn't matter. come and crash! (esp with southwest airfare cheap again...starting today!)

beantown: the bestest cafe

following a tip by may (who read about the place in the AAA magazine), i found the coolest cafe. it has most of the stuff that i look for when i cafe hop...

* small, locally owned (not starbucks)
* distinctly designed (a pleasantly nice retro americana atmosphere)
* inexpensive coffee and a frequent buyer card
* a good menu (includes fosselman's ice cream, smoothies, and soups.)
* cozy seating (sofa chairs...living room like)
* large tables to do work and spread out your stuff (dining room like)
* not too crowded, so that you have to hustle for seats (like the many good cafes in berkeley and in the sunset)
* bright, upbeat atmosphere with music and wall decorations.
* not too loud...not too boringly quiet (neighborhood customers are nice...retro 80s alternative, pop music playing)
* a stack of newsapers to read (it has the la times...but no wall street journal...but i wouldn't expect that here)
* brown sugar to add to your drinks (much better than the white purified stuff)
* available free parking so that you're not rushed (there are free 2 hour zones and a block up there's a 3 hour zone.)
* a free, public highspeed computer terminal (where i am blogging from now)

it's really close by to me in the smally, sleepy, white-bred, mountain-side town of sierra madre. it's called beantown. what a fabulous place. they even have a happy hour from 4-7pm when you can get large coffee drinks for the price of a small. yay. i'm really into this place. and the neighborhood too. it might be too far for me to walk tho...but it's probably like a 7 minute drive.

the only way that this place could be better is if they some cute asians staffing this place...but then again...maybe i wouldn't be able to focus on my work. i suppose i could always go to the many boba places around me.

the boba-slurpin LA life weekly

this past week i was pretty wrapped in my classes. up until thursday it was pretty intense. i need to try to take more pix. oh well...here's a scant 40 pix from this past week.

lounging at lollicup

last nite i went to a second boba place that day. went all the way to lollicup on valley, b/c i wanted to explore some place new while i was doing my reading. i got a mo-chi green tea slush. mmmmmm that was good. only about $2.50 too. i think i need to visit the other lollicup closer to me. maybe some time in the future i'll start a section on my site devoted to reveiwing the different boba places which i've been to down here. there are so many. (anyone got a favorite that i haven't been to yet?) i need to start trying the non boba drinks.

superbowl shopping sunday

after getting a good work-out rollerblading today, we went to ebcla for church in the morning. message was just ok...mostly b/c i already have a greater, more comprehensive understanding of the topic (honoring one's parents) from a better sermon back at home from pastor jeff.

we then went to ikea to get a few new things. i got a new floor lamp to try to cut down on our electricity bill. halogen lamps suck up so much juice. based on the wattage of the light, we should save 50% now on room lighting. we've been sitting in the dark the past couple of weeks trying to conserve. hope it pays off. ikea wasn't too crowded for a sunday b/c of the superbowl.

then we went to price club...er....costco. we bought a few hundred dollars worth of stuff...mostly food, drinks, and inkjet cartridges...stocking up for the term. we were paying close attention to the fat content. never really did that before. sigh...i guess it's part of growing up.

watched about an hour of the blow-out superbowl. i missed most of the good commercials. phooey.

went to downtown LA to go to mosaic. the last sunday of every month is the quest experience. it's not the average sunday church experience...but a conceptualized, creative journey to explore the longing of the human spirit and connecting with God. i invited a few friends, who i'm sure would really enjoy the experience, but no one was able to make it this time. too bad. next time hopefully. tonite explained god's perspective on creation and people...and the longing that he has for us to be with him. very well presented and thought provoking. next week is the start of three weeks on romance. should be interesting. different services are designated for singles and marrieds.

i think if i were to base my church decision just on today...i'd be committed to mosaic. but i'm still in a holding pattern for the next month or so. we'll see.

afterwards went with the girls to an ok place in little tokyo. i need to get some recommendations on where to go for food.

today was a good time of recharging, restocking, reflecting, and refocusing. didn't really do any work at all today. i think all people need to find time for a day like this in their week to really have a proper balance...particularly to reach one's creative and thinking potential. hopefully with productivity tomorrow, i can be on track for the rest of the week.

pooped posterior

whew. just got back from rollerblading around the hood. i was gonna go for a pre-church run...then j suggested that we go blading. that was a really great idea. it's something that we've been meaning to do for a while. last time i went blading was mid last year down the santa monica coast.

it's really nice blading in our area if you go east...cuz the neighboring hood has roads as smooth as silk. no cars are on the street b/c the estate lots are so big that everyone has parking for their multiple, luxury class cars. the view is scenic of nice trees and very nice houses. the wide streets curves slightly back and forth. it's not boringly straight and narrow.

i had a better time of cardio blading than i would if i were jogging, cuz i probably would have gotten bored sooner and been walking sooner...but with blading i think i kept up more of a consistant rate of heart activity.

gotta shower now that it's free. hope we're not too late for church.

i lost my post! boo. so here's the quickie post redux.

sunny saturday in so-cal

* woke up early to get to school to see the russell brown adobe photoshop presentation. it was geared for hair dressers and make-up artists. it was so good to go. learned a lot of cool stuff.

* went to the quickly boba place on san gabriel. 89 cent milk tea boba. it was good for the price. they have a neato bulletin board where they invite you to post up messages...so i drew a little head thing and posted it up. got to talking to a girl who saw my stuff and asked to see my sketch book. didn't really have anything in there tho. turns out that she's a first term illustration student at AC. maybe some other random people will see my doodling and happen across my blog. if any of you happened to see it on the board, holler!

* started to read the taxi driver script. not too bad. it looks like there's a love interest plot or subplot. i'm not really sure yet. hope to finish it tonite or tomorrow am.

foodie friday

ate at a couple of new (old) places today. i went to...

hutch's

for some to go bbq sandwiches for our office of four. we were trying to use a black history month lunch promotion...which technically didn't start yet. i got a lot of crap from the waitress/hostess...about a few things...not being able to use the discount b/c we weren't dining in (never specified on the flier.) got some also b/c of a small requested side order change. she also dropped the change in my hand and walked away...didn't bother too stoop down and find the quarter anyway...don't go there.

el cholo

this place is supposedly an LA institution for mexican/spanish food. it's a fun place. marriachi band. festive place. good food. it wasn't too expensive...but more than my ideal price for < $5 meals (when it's not a special occasion...just j and i). but it's ok...i saved a lot of money this past week on food by eating in and drinking some soup. i figure if i try to save a lot on the eating times when it's just me...i can go try more places when eating out on weekends.

food was good. we got the freshly-made-at-your-table guacamole. it was good...but not worth the $10, imo. chicken chimichangas were good. filling. this was my first mexican food for the new year. i used to eat mexican seemingly 2 or 3 times a week...but gotta cut back on the grease and lard.

managed about 5 1/2 hours last nite. i had work to do still...but i was just too pooped. so i went to bed and tried to wake up early to do another hour of work...but dragging and extra snoozing shrunk that down to 15 min. oh well. i manged to get it done durinng the breaks of my morning class and lunch hour.

a good week 2

i think i did pretty well in my classes today. in fact, i got affirmation from all of my teachers in my studio classes. i really do think that a big reason is that i push myself harder (which translates into less sleep).

drawing for concepts

the class (taught by dl) today is an advanced illustration class, almost taught at a graduate level. it's a great class...focusing on expanding technique and doing some entertainment film projects (like storyboards).

17 of the 20 people are illustration or fine arts majors. mostly 3rd - 8th term, i think. there's one photo major and one other graphics major (my term actually). us two graphics majors were a little scared and nervous today...but we both got affirmation from the teaher individually. dl told me that i have the chops to hang in the class. that was really good to hear...especially since this is my first real drawing class. (i saw for myself that there are some ppl worse than me.)

henry (the other graphics guy) and i are both a bit nervous about doing well in the class and really wanna try to kick butt in the class. it's nice to meet someone with the same school interests in my department.

homework for next week is to read the screenplay for taxi driver. we'll be doing three scene illustrations next week. exciting stuff. i hope the movie plot is interesting.

comm design 2

it went ok today. most of my night last nite, every free minute during my breaks, and my 90 minutes of free time today was spent concepting and making comps for an ad campaign against teenage drunk-driving. i'm pretty informed now. i did a pretty good job doing the research online.

got a lot of good stuff conceptually...pretty on strategy-wise according to the brief. this class is taking more of the formal, strategic ad approach that i'm used to from my work experience. altho, my stuff isn't amazing yet...i can see a big difference in terms of approach compared to the other classmates.

one good thing i found out was that my class field trip (probably to death valley) doesn't conflict with any of my busy weekends in february.

type 1

i did well with the exercises that we had to post up this week. sj liked my stuff. hope that he continues to like it.

the school fellowship

looks like i'm helping out a little with the school fellowship. (hey if any of you people from it are visiting my site for the first time, throw me a shout here!) i'm trying my darndest to help add structure and to build momentum with all of the new stuff going on in the group. i hope that the name will change. we'll see on monday. afterwards we went out to eat at boba world in old town.

tonite at the fellowship, one dude said that i look like stephen chow from shaolin soccer. i think that was pretty funny.

soupy

we're going thru a soup phase now. it's a quick meal, is not too bad for you, is warm, easy to prepare, and has veggies. i just went to ralph's and got 9 cans for myself. i could bring it to school too...if i bring a bowl or something to microwave it in. i don't want to use the styrofoam stuff...since my mum says that it's bad to microwaved.

i bought some cream of mushroom rather than tomato. doh.

under the gun

i just finished my day of class. now i have the rest of the nite to crank out research and concepts on an anti-teenage-drunk-driving campaign.

maybe i can get 5 or 6 hours of sleep tonite if things go well. i got 4 last nite. but what else is new?

here i am...up late into the nite again...printing out my type 1 assignment...16 versions of a book cover type layout (one font). i just had to set-up my replacement printer b/c my old one conked out. (i'm gonna have to continue to search for the original papers...but i have a sinking feeling that it's back in sf...if i can't find it i'll be out $100.)

i started to read a new book today for my history of advertising and propaganda class. (an academic survey class.) the book is...

age of propaganda: everyday use and abuse of persuasion

it's a lot of sociology, some theory, and historical analysis. very similar to what i studied back in my mass com days. lots of examples and case studies from advertising, political campaigns, sales agents, televangelists, and other places. it examines what factors influence us through mass media messaging. i didn't fall asleep reading the book which is a good sign. i read the first 50 pages for class tomorrow. supposed to pick out a couple of sentences that we wanna talk about.

i found these kinda interesting...

* In many ways, we are cognitive misers, forever trying to conserve our cognitive energy. Given our finite ability to process information, we often adopt the strategies of the peripheral route for simplifying complex problems; we mindlessly accept a conclusion or proposition not for any good reason but because it is accompanies by a simplistic persuasion device.

* The reduction of dissonance is a part of everyday life; this is used to advantage by propagandists in what we call the rationalization trap. The trap goes like this. First, the propagandist intentionally arouses feelings of dissonance by threatening self-esteem-- for example, by making the person feel guilty about something, by arousing feelings of shame or inadequacy, or by making the person look like a hypocrite or someone who does not honor his or her word. Next, the propagandist offers one solution, one way of reducing his dissonance--by complying with whatever request the propagandist has in mind. The way to reduce that guilt, eliminate that shame, honor that commitment, and restore your feelings of adequacy is to give to that charity, buy that car, hate that enemy or vote for that leader.

maybe i can apply it to my anti-teenage drunk-driving ads that i gotta do for thursday. ack.

i just remembered that my class starts at 8:30 now...no longer 8:00 am. yay. now i have time share this other thing with you...

that's amore at C & O

i filmed a 2 min avi clip with my camera during the C & O song singing. it's an 8 meg download tho...just to caution you. enjoy. i know you'll wanna go check out the restaurant next time you're down here.

it's really funny how some waiters are totally not into the singing, altho most are. it's a fun place. but it's probably not too fun to be forced to partake in the fun. night after night.

finito

woo hoo! just finished my straw sculpture assignment. just in time to start my 4 hours of sleep!

mind wanderings

it's funny my cerebral process when i focus and work on craft skills. it seems that my parts of my brain kinda disconnect for a little bit. (sort of like how your mind gets thinking about stuff when you're running or exercising.) one part of my brain is very focused on the handcrafting, while another part of my brain kinda wanders and seems to process different random things and thoughts which floated through my head the past few days...really random thoughts like...if a girl met a guy at someone's party, how likely would it be for one of those people to check with the common friend someone about the other person? how likely is it for none of those people to not ask the common friend about that person at all. yeah, random stuff.

another random flittering, thought of analysis...it seems that nearly all of my friends from college (around my age) have gfs if they don't live in sf. maybe b/c the dudes live at home. the rest do have gfs, or are engaged/married. this sf limitation doesn't apply to the girls it seems like.

time to sleep. i hope to remember to wear my glasses tomorrow (instead of my contacts). i didn;t buy safty goggles/glasses...so my small specs will have to do (which is allowed).

my MLK day

i worked for the first monday ever. kinda ironic since it's mlk day when other people and students get it off. they needed me to do some stuff and i was open to getting a few more hours too. dunno how long it'll last tho.

i didn't spend a single dollar on food today. (see i don't eat out all the time.) ate some of the leftovers from the past few meals. low veggie-count tho.

did prep work for more of my homework assignments...building my sculpture of straws, finding teen drunk driving research, and setting up my type 1 cover comps. i really need to do all of my prep work before friday...sigh...

we stopped by becky's mosaic small group. met a few new people (all younger). also met a couple more older graphics students.

man...if i wanna get my four hours of sleep tonite...i need to be in bed in 2 hours!

the first-week-of-second-term LA life weekly

only 45 pix to share with you. sigh...back to grind again.

kuan's restaurant

after ebcla this morning., we went to kuan's restaurant in montebellow for some dumplings and other good food. we got some leftovers again for even more food for this week.

nexus

checked out nexus, a gen-x type service in cerritos. it was just ok. not really what i'm looking for. much like late late service back at home. wider/younger age range of folks there. not too many mid-20-somethings. we didn't really feel that much of a warm welcome. just kinda disappeared out the door afterwards. went to the hat for a greasy dinner.

i don't regret the 30 minute drive down to cerritos to check out the church. so far going to two services a day has been great...and has been good in figuring out exactly what church experience is the best fit for me.

it's always nice when friends share good news from up north from me. both firsthand and secondhand. :)

amore found in marina del ray

we drove an hour to get to marina del ray to hang out with our bay area friend stacy. i had to take about 3 or 4 freeways to get there...to try to avoid the horrendous bottlenecks in downtown LA. i didn't wanna spend about 90 minutes in traffic like i did about a month ago. we went to the well-recommended c & o trattoria.

the food portions were incredible. the three of us split two orders of pasta and we barely made a dent in it. every single nite...all the wait staff go around toasting everyone and sing "that's amore". (click on the link to hear the song that everyone in the restaurant sings together every night.) lots of fun. this place was highly recommended by a few of my la-schooled friends.

does anyone else know of any restaurants down here with a really fun environment? i love exploring places like this.

if you see me online...im me and i'll im transfer you a video clip from the restaurant during the singing. it's pretty cool.

afterwards we went cruising around, showing some of the westside spots. made the obligatory pilgramage to the chinese theater. i saw that daredevil is gonna be the next movie to play there. man...i am definitely gonna be there to watch it...probably on opening night. i'd even go by myself to watch it there...yes, even on the night of feb 14th. now i have something to look forward to on that nite. haha.

traces of me and other friends online

i was looking up info on the new about my old church, and i came across the website of a friend of a friend (dlu...who seems to know hundreds of people, btw). so i was googling info on my old church and this link of pictures came up as the second most popular hit. it was interesting to find myself in his photo album...but i guess that's the experience that a bunch of my friends have with me. heh heh. but it's kinda funny to randomly coming across photos from two years ago. i also found pix of other events (in his other albums) that i was at. at the same time it's kinda nice to be surprised with digital pix of old familiar faces and places.

drawing naked

for my drawing concepts class today, we had to do life-drawing of a naked female. i think that was the first time i had to draw a woman. the other times that i've gone to the saturday life drawing workshops, the models were all men. it wasn't a real big deal to me. the class time seemed to drag on forever. drawing pose after pose after pose. i know i have a ways to go. i'm in a class of practically all illustrator and fine arts majors. (altho there are some people in the class who are worse than me...heh heh.)

this school is sick

in the drawing concepts class i met one dude who was also a 2nd term graphics guy like me. i think we bonded a bit b/c we both felt the same pressures and motivations. having classmates like him definitely motivates me. this guy had a really intense 1st semester. he was living at the southern edge of orange county (south of irvine) and had a 2 hour commute to pasadena. crazeee! he also was taking 7 classes (and did well in a lot of them too). i think he got as little or less sleep than me. man o man. he also said that he lost 20 lbs last term b/c he was working so hard that he often forgot to eat! dang, that's friggin nuts! but i could definitely believe it.

24 hour food in the hood

i discovered for the first time last nite that ralph's by my pad is 24 hours! that's really great to discover. now i have a ton of late nite alternatives to eating closeby (past 11pm) that's not fast food. i'm really trying to cut down on the greasy and fried stuff. (you'll be proud of me, mum and dad.) i like my neighborhood even more now.

so i went and bought a few lean cuisine frozen meals and a few frozen hot pockets. i was trying to eat as soon as i could, b/c i didn't want to eat right before bad. turns straight to fat you know.

the age guage

when i talk to people at AC, we usually try to assess and guess each other's ages. it's interesting how people guess/react to how old i am. a lot of people guess that i'm around 22. but if they pick up on my oh-so-subtle mentioning of working a few years after college, they get a whole lot closer. i think it's hillarious how most people usually guess that j is a year or two younger than me. hee hee.

baccali cafe

drove around n8 after school to ikea and back home. we had a bunch of nice chats about college, faith at AC. ate at baccali cafe, which is pretty goood. i had the kalbi short ribs and fried chicken steak. good stuff.

the carpool sticker crusade

we woke up stinkin early to try to be at school at 7:30 this morning. we were a few minutes late. we were trying to hustle to be part of the limited bunch to get carpool stickers. man o man. was it close. lucky ducks we were. there were about 50 people in line ahead of us. we just squeaked by. there were just two sitckers left after us and a couple dozen unhappy students.

comic fan lunch

went with n8 and jon to the comic book store to check out new books. i didn't buy anything cuz i'll save more money getting my (now few) books thru my hook-up at home. we then went to mediterranean cafe for lunch. pretty good. not sure if it's better than zankou tho. i said that we couldn't go to any chain restaurants...so we ended up there.

the trek to van nuys

went out to van nuys tonite to check out a mosaic life group. figured i oughta go now while i have the time. it was really good. met a few other guys my age and one married girl. i think that i can connect to them. dunno if i'd really have time to go out there bi-weekly on a school nite. guess it would be good motivation to try to really discipline my time. i gained more insights into the church and the life there. man...such a tough decision to choose. now i'm starting to lean more towards mosaic.

black straws

just picked up a bunch of boba straws. i only have about 20. i'm gonna need more. need all different types of straws too. got a bunch of green ones from starbucks too.

i remember seeing black straws somewhere...but i can't remember where. maybe it's the coffee bean? or some other place? can anyone recall where they might have em?

escaping flatland

went with jean to the special edward tufte AC workshop at the A + D museum in downtown LA. it was held in the bradbury building, a very historic place...which was used in bladerunner. it was a pretty interesting time. he talked mostly about his stainless steel planar sculptures and how they refract natural color. lots of good stuff that i can probably apply to my materials class. also talked about several prints from his books. i got my "visual evidence" book signed. i bought it a few years ago...but never got really into it and finished it (or even got half-way). tufte is a master of visual info graphics and analyzing them. i guess i'll go to his lecture at AC tomorrow. i hope i don't fall asleep. i'm getting there at 7:30 in the am to get a carpool pass. ugh.

trust the cook at the pasadena sandwich company

yesterday we checked out the pasadena sandwich company. a lot of humongous big sandwiches. j and i both got the "trust the cook" sandwiches, which is a suprise what comes out...it's all up to how the cook feels. i think it was pastrami and turkey with american cheese and a lot of stuff. i don't really like american. would rather have cheddar or jack. the sandwiches were still good tho. very filling. so much in fact that all i had for dinner was soup...i think i'll start drinking soup more for meals...j was full too. i think he also came down with a stomach bug after that...so i don't think he'll be trusting the chef anymore.

eaton canyon national park

i didn't just wanna go home and nap (undigested food turns to fat you know), so i went exploring and waking. i went to the eaton canyon national park. it's not too far from where i live. it's very nice (one of the few national parks down here)...hiking trails and nature sanctuary. i gotta explore it more on foot when i have some time to check out the trails. there's one that goes to some waterfalls, which sounds pretty interesting. have to watch out for poison ivy and possibly rattlesnakes tho.

materials class

first class of the week. materials of art & design. should be a fun lateral thinking type class. first project with straws. i need to find some boba straws. i failed to talk to the people sitting next to me in class. however i did make a new classmate friend, a girl sitting in front of me, who just entered my major and my term...and just finished usc. so now i have someone to ask for class info, which is nice. (tho i could also ask j why just took the class last term and did well.) i really want to meet as many second-degree AC students as possible.

we saw a pretty boring video on the bauhaus. i don't think i fell asleep...but i can never be too sure. i zoned for a little and also sketched out initial ideas for my create a sculpture/object out of straws.

off to seek out straws!

daredevil rocks

check out the brand new trailer! very cool. i'm excited for this movie. gotta see this opening day down here.

mike and i met jet li's body double!

the last-week-in-SF-and-back-to-LA life weekly

again for you every monday...the weekly album upload of pix from the past week. check out124 pix of my last week in SF and the trek back to LA.

reconnecting super sunday

today was a good day. went to ebcla for church in the am. talked to a few of my married friends afterwards. i saw phil and gary, two ci boys, from my cal days. caught up with them. one's now engaged. seems like life continues to move on quickly for my peers from college. we got grub from roscoe's and saw part of the raider game at roy's.

enjoyed the message by pastor ken. i should really take notes. it was about honoring god in terms of how you treat his name and how you do things in his name. i was feeling like this church would be worth going to for a while to really try out for an extended time.

at nite i went to urban mosaic for church. that was a really great experience. worship and preaching were great. man, if i gotta pick one church right now it'll be really tough. the message was was really great. directly based on passages in luke and examined the contexts of them. a lot of really great insights from his life and examples.

one of pastor irwin's points was that most of our relationships in life are based on what we can get from other people. we don't go around looking for some one to date/marry based on how we can completely serve them. yet jesus tells multiple stories about who we should be seeking out as company...people who we can serve and help. the church turns society's relationship dynamic upside down...having us seek out people whom we can help/serve...not those who can benefit us. the message resonated with me a lot. there are some people who i can to help out whom i have exclusive access. also pushing me more to seek out new people...not out of a selfish spirit.

still sometimes scared to meet new people

i met a bunch of people after service. that was really great. i haven't quite tapped into the community there yet. i ran into susy whom i knew from cbm camp 9 years ago. funny that i'm only seeing her now. she recognized me. i was getting all ready to leave since i didn't see anyone i knew too. she introduced me to her friend ricky, who's jet li's body double (the guy in the white outfit above).

so then i was standing around with mike (the other guy in the picture), who was also checking out the church at the time. one guy comes up to us and warmly introduces himself. i respect that a lot...taking on an initiative of hospitality to welcome new people. it's one thing to do it to one person...who might be looking kinda lost...or to girls if you're a guy. but to do it to not just one guy...but two guys (who aren't all by themselves), is another matter. that was pretty cool. it looks like i'll probably be checking out his small group now.

i really need to continue to evolve as an outgoing, warm person...seeking out to forge new relationships regardless if i can get something out of the relationship or not. i missed two opportunities in both services today to introduce myself to the lone individuals sitting next to me. (both girls btw...but that's not too importannt.) i had unfortunately let my shyer side win out. darn it. in the am service i saw an older lady sitting next to me take the warm initiative to introduce herself to the girl next to me.

it should be a warm, natural thing to welcome the people around you worshipping with you in church. sigh...ok...for the next month i'm going to try to chat briefly with individuals (not engaged in conversation) sitting next to me in service. i'll try doing that in class this week too. i hope that i can pull it off. i'll tell you how it goes.

had a good time afterwards hanging out and fellowshipping with mike down from sf for a few days. had some really great food at east japanese restaurant in little tokyo. we picked it cuz it was busy looking, had some nice ambiance, and actually had japanese people eating in the restaurant. always a good sign. we got a chance to share a bit and catch up on life. i'm glad that i got to catch up with him before he goes off to india for a month. we share a lot of perspectives on a lot of things and i think we're in the same boat with transition.

reflections on the road and other places

* the past term i made the transition to LA. sometimes when i'm driving around down here and see the freeway signs...it still amazes me that i made the move down here. this year i'm gonna really make down here my home and get connected to people and the area. what would really be key to that is settling into a church.

* i tried to think of the key events from this past year and how i may have learned/grown. i think i was stretched a bit in working with/directing different groups of people, riding out waves of personal uncertainty, being impressed by different people, growing my mind and heart by attending the perspectives class, and learning how to cope with less sleep.

* friendships take on a new light when you leave a place and when you come back.

* i think i met up with about 75% of the people that i wanted to meet up with.

* i've thought about getting involved in the AC fellowship and started to imagine the untapped potential that lies in the community. i think from my experiences in helping to build and being a part of different communities, i have a fairly good handle on the make-ups of organizational behavior. i think if i didn't aspire to be a creative person, i could do well as an organizational consultant. maybe if i knew what consulting was all about earlier on, i might have fallen into that path...anyhoo...when a community is united for a purpose
and inspired a lot of stuff can happen.

* i think formally celebrating or acknowledging birthdays is important if hoping for a certain level of intimacy in a group. i hear it's not done formally in the fellowship anymore. that's really too bad. i hope that they get reinstituted.

* i've been getting a little too comfortable and not pushing myself to do new stuff as much.

* this is the year that i really continue to develop my own being. especially disconnected somewhat from home and the familiar, i'll be connecting to new things.

* in need to really be serious like school and not like college relived again. that might be the situation for some people, but not me. had an interesting chat with a classmate tonite. he shared a teacher's advice to him (a student in his early 30s)...that you're too old to treat AC like college, like the 19 year olds. you need to push all of your teachers for more. once you're done with school you want to be in a different place than the younger kids who are your classmates. so true. i need to really find and tap into my internal drive.

* don't bother trying to use the restroom at the san mateo jamba juice (on 4th street). i accidentally took the bathroom key with me down to LA. i hope that they have a spare, they really oughta put the key to a big keychain that won't fit into your back pocket.

back in pas

made it back all the way down the 101. i know its a little longer...but i wanted to try another route. it's a little more scenic and a little windier. just got back about half an hour ago. stopped off in santa barbara for a mcchicken sandwich (no $1 nuggets there) and a potty break.

it was interesting taking the 101. passed by different towns. two lane road the whole way. large open skies. lots of greenery at times. yeah, i coulda shaved off an hour or more off of my long trek, but it was worth experiencing the 101 once. next time i guess maybe i'll take the 99 or the train.

had time to reflect a little over the past year and the year to come. i'll share that later. out to drop by a last minute party now.

a murky-durky exploration thursday

met up with my LA co-workers from macworld. took em niebaum-coppola (the fourth and last of my favorite sf eat spots)...francis ford-coppola's restaurant in north beach. it took a while to find street parking...but my super-parking-sense prevailed luckily. it was rainy and drizzly all of a sudden. i wasn't expecting that at all. i dunno if i'll make it back down to LA now on sat. don't wanna drive the long stretch by myself in the rain. maybe i'll be here til sunday i dunno.

desiree discovery

ended up exploring the presidio afterwards. good thing i had done some destination research a couple of weeks ago...

did about 30-45 min of breakfast spot research a few weeks ago and discovered the existence of a really nice but very small cafe in the heart of the presidio. i really liked the high comfy chairs which put you off the ground so that your feet dangle. i think it would be a very nice place to go on a nice sunny day for breakfast, tea, or if you just wanna get away and journal or something. there's also a small gallery on the bottom floor which was closed.

wandering ways

lots of interesting things that most people don't usually check out in the presidio. neat little bowling alley. huge ocean-view vistas. arboretum. it's kinda nice to reconnect to the city... walking around the steeply graded streets. finding little hidden nooks in the older historic areas. seeing the views of the city and skyline. even in the dreary fog it's still nice.

returning to lumps

something that i was really lookin forward to for a while was visiting my church fellowship (of 20-somethings) for four years. i haven't been back since august...and encountering a dearth of similar groups in LA (along with being away for a while) made me wanna reconnect even more. it was a pretty mellow experience. nothing too drastically different at all. some things were the same...a lotta familiar faces, starting really late, good worship, examining the word closely. some things were different...fewer guys around that were my year (it seemed like there were a ton before). i've heard an opinion that the group's changed a bit and doesn't quite feel the same as home. it does still feel like home to me. i think i'm pretty tolerant of changes and can ride em out pretty well.

walking em out

there are a couple things that i wish could/should go back to how things were a ways back. one would be longer times for small group discussions (not enough time for discussions) so that you can really talk about how things affect you on a real level and how you live faith out, the other (and seeing guys actively walk out the girls. i know for some guys it's an odd thing to do...but i think it's a good sign of love, respect, and ettiquette. it can be deemed weird, old-fashioned, or unneccessary...but over the years i've seen it to be very practical and much appreciated. i guess maybe there's a need now for some older guys to model it or be trained again. sigh. ah well.

more of the meet-up mambo

met up with graham for tea, who taught one of my classes last year. we got together at one world cafe. it was great meeting up and catching up. i gained more insights into AC life...as a student, as an alum, as part of the sf AC community. i need to continue to meet up with more creative people. every good conversation i have sheds a little light and insight into my school and future career perspective.

afterwards i met up with donny for korean food. he introduced me to this small place on taraval a couple of years ago. it was good to catch up and hang out.

drove downtown and met up with peter for coffee. shot the breeze and caught up too.

macworld again

drove a few blocks over to macworld (and got free street parking again...yay). ran into ellen, my reporter friend, who was covering the convention. got 512 more memory for my powerbook. hope i can install it ok. walked around for a couple of hours but nothing too exciting. learned more about some of the new apple software releases.

prime rib with po po

plans to meet up with LA co-workers fell thru, so i ended up eating with po po at houston's. that place is sooo good. prime rib was great. salmon was just ok. we were waiting for about 15+ minutes for a table, and they brought a plate of fries over to us to compensate for the weight. what great service! great table service too. we first tried houstons with each other on one of our dates to try new places to eat. that will definitely be one of our special places to go and eat. nice atmosphere too.

afterwards drove over to the serramonte outback to take the group photo for tengboy's bday shindig. here's the pic of the pretty party people...

when to go

i'm debating on leaving friday or saturday am. it's a bummer that i don't have anyone to caravan with in the daytimes. i don't really wanna drive at night.

go south saturday?

i'll have an extra day to do stuff here. i can hang out as late as i want to on thursday nite, and can do registration admin stuff on monday. plus i don't have anything hang out wise lined up friday nite in la. i sure don't wanna spend it alone in a messy apartment. hmmm.

go forth friday?

i can take care of admin school stuff friday afternoon. i can go to the la auto show and save $4. i can't stay out too late thur nite. i have less time to see liked and loved ones. i can spend time fixing up my messy apartment. (but school doesn't start until tuesday for me.) i'll have more time to hang around with my roomie and his gf. hmmm.

i guess it's not that hard of a choice. articulating it here helped me to process it. one call to AC in the am and i'll have it settled.

it's been a couple of fruitful days.

guy buddies lunch

grabbed a bite to eat with rex and pat. it was a last minute thing. we wandered looking around 9th for new places and finally settled at the nan king road bistro. it's a nice chinese restaurant spot for lunch. i really enjoyed meeting up with them and was blessed by the fellowship and reflection that we shared. pat asked about resolutions and things we learned over the past year and prayed at the end. that was so cool. hoping to maybe meet/catch up with them every semester break that i come back.

arboretum alone time

since i parked in the park, i went for a stroll by myself in the arboretum. had a good time reading my book, hanging out on the bench by the pretty ducks, and seeing the kiddies run with delight towards the "duckies" which were really pigeons.

catching up with ro

late afternoon yesterday i caught up with ro who just got back to the states. had a good time hanging out walking around the marina and talking about creative stuff. it's definitely nice to share and compare notes on creative careers and perspectives.

hangin with mom and pop

ate at abc cafe which i was not at all thrilled about. i know better hk cafes on the richmond side. it was nice to spend some time with the parentals since i've been running around so much and we exist in different time zones in the same house. after that i got sago with dad at golden island.

seeing the parent friends

visited john and cyn today. it was great catching up with them, sharing about la, learning about parenting a one-year old (who was napping at the time), chatting about lumps and church stuff. some stuff has changed but not a whole lot.

downtown excursion

caught the n-judah with two (of the now few) unemployed buddies to go downtown. tried to go to sears fine foods for lunch, but it was closed. (drat. it's supposed to be one of the best breakfast places in sf.) instead i led us to tacqueria can-cun on 6th and market (which i don't think a lot of people know about). it's just like the one in the mission. now i don't have to make a special trek out there to get a neato mission burrito.

went to yerba buena and the sfmoma. it was the free first tuesday of the month. the bay area now 3 exhibit at yerba buena was pretty cool to check out. i enjoyed the environmental experiences. one was a fantastical, futuristic home security system for the living room, all controlled from a web-page. kinda narly. i thoroughly enjoyed the body design exhibit, the architecture + water, and the richter exhibits. i learned a lot of cool ideas for presenting work...like taking the back out of a picture frame and using a back light to project through an illustration on opaque paper...also printing on vellum like paper and stretch hanging it between two horizontal bar weights. i woulda taken some pix...but it was too hard with the guards around. i bought an audio tour of the richter stuff. very educational. i think i'd like to try painting from photographs like him...possibly from some of the unusual sky photos that i've taken recently.

macworld sf

met up with commie chink to check out mac world for a couple of hours. it was great hangin out with him and learning even more mac stuff from him. we drooled over the brand spankin' new 12" and 17" powerbooks. (see the pretty pictures here next sunday.) apple released a heck of a lot of new software too.

the pic pic jamboree

so tengboy initiated the first ever lumps photo show & tell session. it was kick-back and cool. it's crazy that everyone who brought laptops brought apples. 2 powerbooks (my roomie and me) and 2 iBooks.

i ended up giving mini tutoring on the basics to digital photography. maybe i should just hold weekly seminars or something. it's nice how people can tell my style in my photos (candid story-telling) vs flashed out poses.
anna said that she can tell the difference between shots that other people took with my camera and ones that i took.

at some future point...i'm gonna share my technique explained out. you too can take picture the gregwong way. hah.

the return-to-sf life weekly (part 2 of 3)

more hangin out and visiting with friends. lots of planned and impromptu hang-outs. i hope i'm not getting too fat from all the eating out. oh well. so here's143 shots of this week's edition of my return to sf.

(btw, i'm not publicly sharing here a snow guillotine grudge match out of respect for the combatants...but ask me if you wanna see it.)

sorry it's a little late. don't have ready access to dsl. had to push bandwidth at a friends' place last nite and then my cousins this am. weekly updates for most of the rest of the year should be up late sunday nite.

back from the snow...

relaxing sunday

came back from tahoe. ate a 1/3 pound burger at redrum burger in davis, formerly known as muder burger. good stuff man. i think i'm gonna try to limit my burger intake to one every two weeks.

learning and receiving hospitality

i was asked what i had learned in 02. it took me a while to think of something. but i think a few times this year i was really impressed by love shown thruogh hosptiality of indiviuals. one person earlier this year impressed upon me the warmth and sincerity in her character. in the late summer when i was looking for housing, i also came across a similar impression from people i met in LA, willing to help out a friend or an unknown brother in his search. it made me reflect and try to mirror that love and hospitality to people i came across in a similiar situation (like those in transition, visiting, or new to a city.)

i think when i get back to LA, i'm gonna buy a futon or folding mat just so that people who might visit me can have a more comfortable place to sleep.

changing from complacency

i got to thinking about change, resolutions, and the commoness of complacency. was reading in packer's knowing god today (after a 4 month hiatus) about how many people are too complacent to really change. they might believe stuff in their head but not really act on it or fully live it...b/c they are too complacent in their own situation to try to change. the same point was reiterated tonite at service by pastor john's message about having no game plan. he gave a good example about exercise and needing to lose weight. i think complacency is definitely very common...especially when i hear people say that they don't believe in new year's resolutions, or when they think it's futile...not really taking any steps to reflect and recognize their condition and to do something to improve it. some people not having enough optimism or hope to think that they can change.

all it really takes is one day at a time....for seventeen consecutive days that is. that's the supposeed magic number of consecutive days needed to break/form new habits. go get started on your day one of seventeen today!

spending the weekend in a winter wonderland...

chilling at the lodge

taking it slow and chill this weekend in tahoe. yesterday am i deprived myself of needed sleep once again due to very late packing and an early morning departure. kicked it with the eleventh indian boy at the lodge...catching up on stuff, struggling to fight off sleep to read a few pages in my storyboarding book, and eating greasy garlic fries and nachos.

harrah's eating

we drove up to harrah's for some $11 prime rib buffet grub. we would have been mad if we paid $20, b/c it wasn't all that. anyone recommend better dinner buffets in reno? a lot of the food was a bit dry. probably got about 5 servings of the thin cut, over well-done and barely cooked pieces.

along the trip learned some interesting canadian interesting points like the preferred "washroom" nomenclature (b/c one does not rest in the washroom) and that canadians call cow juice "homo." that was too funny.

decided not to board this weekend. saving my money to put towards buying equipment off season. instead gonna take it slow and relaxing this weekend. read some books. do some work. hang out.

another busy day in 03

lunch with a friend in cupertino...downtown sf to get paid for a freelance gig...went with a friend on a wedding announcement printing errand...crossroads cafe to do some resolution reflection...dinner with jon and owen at sasquatch (old portero brewing company place)...losing a lot at four-way timesplitters 2...hangin out at the dental apartment in the sunset. i've been productive. time to take it slow for the next couple of days...

to bettering myself in 03

here's my list of resolutions/goals this year. a bunch of em were on my list last year too.

school
* spend one hour starting to dig into new assignments within 48 hours of it being assigned
* be at the top of two of my studio classes
* look at 2 new books in the library for 10 minutes each
* finish/stop working on assignments 48 hours before it is due
* become a good storyboard artist and get paying gigs
* go to saturday illustration/computer workshops three times a month
* attend three special speaker meetings each semester that I’m really not that interested in
* get out of the apartment when I have to do conceptual work (e.g. go to Whole Foods)

spiritual
* get into a regular pattern of bible study
* select and go thru a study book
* settle down at a church within two-three months (attending one church for at least 3 weeks of the month)
* explore/develop a fellowship community for the next two months
* visit new churches just once a month
* lead a diligent prayer life

social
* really get to know one new person a week
* talk to more classmates (get to really know 2 per class)
* get to know my teachers (talk to them offline – out of class)
* reconnect with old professional acquaintances
* meet up with friends at least once every two weeks for a meal
* talk to people in line
* talk to those people loud enough so that nearby people may hear me and can possibly join in on the conversation
* pay people compliments more (esp. strangers)
* start planning for birthdays/gifts one month in advance (stop waiting til the last day)
* stop giving Hallmark money and start make my own cards

self
* get more sleep (at least the school recommended 4 hours a nite)
* discipline my time better (sit down for an hour each week to plan out my week)
* run/walk/blade around the neighborhood at least twice a week
* put up a baseline portfolio site
* stock up my fridge every two weeks
* drink 2-3 cups of water a day
* eat the greasy fried (yummy) stuff
* eat salads or veggie heavy meals at least twice a week
* try/explore one new thing a day
* read the LA times, Wall Street Journal, New York Times at least four times a week
* take artistically interesting photos each week and upload them to photo.net
* minimize and make my time online efficient (chatting, blogging, e-mail)
* develop a mini-book portfolio to send out for freelance illustration gigs.
* weekly browse a magazine/book that I absolutely have zero interest in
* make 50% of my gifts this year
* explore the westside twice a month
* maintain a list of places that I want to go to
* become a mac/programs expert (read books and go thru them using my laptop.)
* get more color into my wardrobe. ( I’m looking a little too monochromatic lately.)
* visit a bookstore/newstand weekly
* settle all of my bills at the beginning of every month

yep that's a lot. i'm gonna post this up in my room. if you got any ideas on any of this stuff or think you have some good resolutions yourself, share em here.

goin back in time...

new years eve nite we had our McFly FlashBack to the Future Party at the dds pad. i dressed up like 1985 marty mc fly which didn't look too bad. had to borrow a denim jacket since i never owned one. a few others dressed up. most didn't. (boo.) but it was still fun. we got thru half of the first movie (with pop-up anecdotes) and then we got around to playing different games. moods was fun. there's some game called settlers which people are into (seems like a board game version of warcraft sorta). i passed on taboo since i feel like i know all the answers since i've played the game since it came out nearly 15 years ago.

it's been really great hanging out again with most of my old friends from the past few years. we had a good time...and didn't really need alcohol to do it...(tho of course there was some champagne and other drinks)...but no one at all got wasted.

interesting wedding

i got invited to a wedding yesterday. i didn't know the bride too well. i didn't really know why they wanted to invite me, but i was flattered that they would go to the trouble of sending a separate invitation to dan in order to pass it along to me (after i neglected to tell them my address).

it was small (<200), wedding. lots of fobbish represntation. it was all very interesting. you can see the photos in a few days. i thought it was also interesting seeing the church christmas decorations in the background. had fun hanging out with dan + michelle and dan.

golden island

got to catch up with chris back in the city after the wedding. that was great. haven't caught up with him in several months. we're all going thru a lot of transition.

Q joint

caught up with the college fellas. ate at Q, one of my favorite places to eat in sf. ribs were good. i think i'll have to work it off soon.

we were postulating how it seems that none of our guy buds are hooked up. it seems that all the guys who don't have a gf or are not egaged are those living outside of sf or who were imports from oustide. maybe it's something in the water.