tales of insanity

i finished my scholarship portfolio. i ran out of time. i only completed about 80% of my original vision. my case wasn't really working out. i didn't include 2 projects that i was meaning to. (but at least they were further down on my list.) my labels on all of my work were hand done. i probably could have had a bunch more points.

it was due at 9 am sharp. i didn't sleep a single wink last nite. i went to kinko's to get two books bound at 5am. i didn't need too much caffeine. my mind has been racing all weekend. my portfolio case which i was building didn't really work out. if only i had pushed it earlier it might have looked nice. but it really wasn't worth the time that i was puting into building this thing out of cardboard. ah well...about $25 down the tube.i guess i can repurpose the materials.

i spent $130 in printers supplies...inks and paper. that turned out to be a pretty good investment. allowed me to print big on j's printer and the books that i made turned out really nicely. couldn't have hoped for it to be done better.

so the case...that piece of crap. i finally ran out of time at about 8am and decided to give up on it. so my mind was racing. what can i do? can i use j's silver tool box? it looked nice. but it was really 1/4" too narrow. what i ended up doing was pretty ingenious actually. i took two black mounting boards (heavy duty cardboard) and created a case in 20 minutes using black duct tape...and when that ran out...clear packaging tape. i also recycled some velcro tape from my last portfolio attempt last year. it's amazing what you'll think of creatively when the stress is on.

can't be late in turning in your portfolio...not like class. i asked j to drive me (again, like last year), b/c i was stressing out so much, and i was still scribbling project tags. man this morning was the absolute worst experience. the feeling of knowing what you have to do and how to do it but running out of time. i did have some printer problems, but i can't blame that too much. the last time i felt this bad was...the last scholarship portfolio due. the cruddiest times for me are always the 11th hour of projects. sigh.

i was so certain that my stuff was going to be stellar. now it's just ok in some crummy portfolio design. but oh well. i think realizing that my purpose for life totally isn't to win scholarship or to do super well in school but to glorify and worship god as his creation...instantly gives me a huge sense of peace from an instant paradigm shift.

i laid down on the couch at 10am and work up again at 6pm. man...was body was all tuckered out. my apartment is thrashed with cut up cardboard and paper all over the place. same for my room too. i took the worst shower of my life (again). our water pressure is just a trickle now. a good shower would have been so great coming home.

i want to go out and play. i'm craving a hoagie. i haven't played for a while now. i feel like i've done several weeks worth of work crammed into this past week. i really need to go to school and work on my acrylic peace. yeah...play and AC doesn't really go together. i had a few guys stay at our place this weekend. i don't think that i had more than 5 minutes with them at any one time...when i wasn't working. that's how busy i was. no time to eat. no time to sleep. no time to go hang. yes...this really was the worst weekend of the year for me. but of course i do it to myself...setting my goals high. not like i had to go to the lengths and trouble that i have to. ah well, we'll see how thigns turn out.

time to get dressed and go to school!

mind racing

i'm still alive. i've been pushing super duper hard. 1-2 nap hours of sleep last nite. the nite before 4 hours of sleep. (i was intending to get less.) i spent all day yesterday doing my type book. finally done aroudn midnight. it looks nice. lotso printer problems with my version of indesign. thank god that kinko's didn't screw up the binding. my mind is now racing trying to figure out how to execute an idea...which i spent the last few hours trying to nail.

i need to be really really good on my time management now. can't get caught up in the details. i know i can do it. or at least i think i can...b/c i'm usually over optimistic with my time and my ability. ugh. i have 5 projects that are about 90% done, a big one that's 40% done, and another one that's 25% there.

after church this morning, i better make a run for energy drinks.

please...no printer problems today!

today might just be the most stressful day of the entire year for me...work-wise. at least until the next finals and scholarship day.

too much of a good thing

i just got too much sleep. about 11 hours. i guess i was making up for what i was missing the past week. i slept at 9:30 pm. was meaning to get up at 3am to do work. got up and hit the alarm and went back to sleep. i was gonna help jean with the press at 9, so she just called. waking me up. well the day is still young and i can get a lot done. so much to do.

exhausted
i reckon that i got about 8 hours of sleep over the past three nites! i've been up since 1am today. crashed after the caribbean treasures food outing sorta with my life group. woke up early and went to n8's to do some work. i very productive time, indeed. i made a lot of progress on my earthworks desert poster.

i'll go to sleep now and wake up later on. i'm sure someone's gonna call me and wake me up tonite. hopefully i remember the conversations that i have this time.

cutting out from work tomorrow. way too much stuff. i got an inkling of what i wanna do for scholarship we'll see if i can pull it together.

my teacher this afternoon noticed that i was fading during class, and then announced that we'll be having a break. later on she commented that i'm tired-looking. i have bags i guess. bloodshot eyes are a giveaway too it seems.

mountains and mountains of stress, oh my

i'm soooo feeling it right now. each consecutive day...three in a row, i'm getting a clearer picture of what needs to get done. i got a couple of hours of sleep last nite, but i don't feel fazed the slightest bit. i'm trying to push a few of my projects far, tackle a brand new one, keep up the pace in a couple of classes, and work on my scholarship portfolio. just how much can this scholarship portfolio be worth? well...i think it can potentially be about $2,000 for a student. renewable for each term. i have up to 6 terms ahead of me at this school. you can do the easy math. $24 k. wowzers, huh? that's why it's not that big of a deal to drop $200 on your portfolio presentation for some.

i just saw my pal becky's portfolio. man...seeing that gave me sort of a kick showing me how far i can maybe push my stuff. seeing her stuff made me feel like my head was going to explode...b/c i started imagining all the ways that i can develop my work and again realized how much work i have to do to be polished. in the 40 or so minutes that i reviewed her 8 terms of work, i felt like i ingested three cups of coffee through my eyes.

i don't want to go too overboard thinking about school work. i know last term i felt like i burnt myself out...pulling an all-niter, feeling the stress in my stomach on the way to school. and what did i get? squat didly. so that's why i'm letting a couple of things stand in my schedule this week. i really need to be strategic with my breaks, so as not to waste time, but to also figure out where i can tap resources.

certianly, this is the most stressful weekend of the term. the weekend when portfolio is due. trying to revamp old stuff, package it nicely, and also push current stuff faster. this is the time when you have to prioritize and re-prioritize a lot of things...grocery shopping, doing new work, time with God, doing old work, fellowship, doing tedious work, talking on the phone, doing inspired work, playing host and tour guide to people. i'm not going to be so consumed that i leave out God and some fellowship...i think it's there that i do find a lot of energy and strength, as well as peace in the midst of all the craziness.

i just got a call from becky. i left my camera behind at her place. yep, i'm starting to lose it. ugh.

it's times like these when i gotta really work smart. it's easy for me to get caught up in details. what's most effective is overall thinking about the primary communication and impression that people get from work.

today was a nice change of pace. a good salad lunch at cheesecake with flew and j. my once a week salad is a twice a week this time, b/c the lunch sized portion was still a lot more than i can eat. afterwards we went hunting for books of a particular dimension at borders. did a lot of 4 cent photocopying. stopped by bean town and sorted my work. ate tofu at a really great korean place in arcadia. afterwards we checked out becky's stuff. very nice. i've got a ways to go.

that's it for the break for today. i gots stuff to do. up until monday am!

the creative cram

so much work to do! mostly because of my scholarship portfolio. my idea for my portfolio continues to get refined (in my head) in terms of content and presentation. yeah i really should have been working on this about a month ago. of course you can't really plan like that. for me...i seem to subconsciously synthesize a lot of recent experiences, observations, and conversations to tackle whatever project that's dwelling on my brain. i realize now that my portfolio was really bad last term (for scholarship). hoping to do a lot better this time.

i went to borders at 10pm to get out of the apartment. to look for something i can use for a photoshoot, but didn't really find it. then i wandered around a couple of sections and got hit with a bunch of new ideas. i really do need to get out of my apartment into bookstores and cafes...new, fresh environments to think and process. how can you really expect to be really creative in the same room where you sleep, filled with all of your familiar stuff?

after that i decided to reward myself with a mo-cha green tea slush at lollicup. so i went for a drive. took a new unexplored route too. eventually found my way. but last minute decided to go to the quickly around the corner...cuz the drinks are so cheap. i got a red bean grass jelly for 99 cents. the red beans were just ok tho.

across the street i saw a lot of interesting signage at a sign store. so i crossed the street and had a spur of the moment photoshoot. a lot of good images right there. after about 5 minutes a cop car pulls up. the cop gets out and talks to me about what i was doing. apparently i looked darn suspicious looking into the store with my hands down about waist level doing something. i quickly explained about the typography thing and showed him my pix, i wonder if the guy even knew what "typography" means. i told him that i go to AC, but i don't think he really got it until i showed him my id. good thing i didn't leave it at home! ah well. i was pretty calm and cool thru the whole thing cuz i knew that i could explain it. that was my newness and excitement for the nite. (in the daytime,,,i spent about 4 hours carving a piece of wood in the shop. so double newness for monday.)

photo nazi title?

i'm trying to come up with a title/caption for a new project showing a lot of my random, creative photos. i'm not going to put any of the cheesy social shots where people are grinning or hamming for the camera. maybe more of the funny interesting, visual things that i come across in my travels and wanderings. i need a title. something interesting. i got a few in mind. but nothing solid yet. suggestions?

the boo-ba LA life weekly

see 127 fab pix of my sightings in sunny so-cal. a continuation of taking dan around, random class stuff, the kristina led k-town adventure, wandering around south pas, wash and dry dinner with n8 and suz, and a little Lumps LA meet up in irvine.

misc meanderings

* south pas is a really nice area. lots of interesting ostritch history in the south pas historical museum. the elderly lady was really friendly. chatting with her i learned about firefly (a nice date place), kalbi's (a quaint coffeehouse in an old brick building), munch (a great place for sandwhiches), and nicole's (a really nice spot for lunch). south pas is definitely a nice place to leisurely stroll around and wander. (a la union street and upper fillmore in sf). i settled and studied at buster's...another really great cafe. just about as great as beantown. they serve fosselman's ice cream too!

* i didn't get a whole lot of work done...yet i think i advanced in my conceptual development of my portfolio. i struggled to get some studying at n8's done. i think him playing the second season of transformers on dvd was my doom. (you know...one bad thing about that cartoon series was that the vast majority of the early episodes took place in the desert...really boring, yet easy to draw backgrounds.) today i pulled double church duty...new song and mosaic. afterwards we went to the famous birthplace of the french dip sandwich - "philippe's original". i can't believe i forgot my camera. every single time that i leave it behind...i happen to go to someplace interesting. becky, j, and i explored there after urban mosaic.

* becky just gave me a casual crit on my work...saying that i have a lot of work to do is an understatement in my opinion. gotta plug away a lot this week. maybe i'll skip work.

* if you know mandarin or are aware of the real origin of the name of "boba drinks"... you'll find the above picture hillarious.

tapping the AC outlet

i'm starting to get focused long term again about school. this term, like so many of my 2nd term pals, has been feeling pretty lazy and kick-back. i've rarely had a single weekend this term filled primarily with work. it's gonna change this weekend tho.

just got back earlier from the entertainment workshop. speaking was james clyne who finished from AC years ago and who's doing concept and production design for hollywood. movies like titan a.e., a.i., and minority report. he designed that hovership/cop pez dispencer-craft. he's probably on the dvd. it was really good stuff. i think i fell asleep during the a.i. stuff (the air circulation in that conference room isn't the greatest), but i was paying close attention during the minority report stuff and also during his really great photoshop demonstration. he showed how he paints and composes images/backgrounds...very interestingly using a lot of digital photography for textures and color palletes. another good justification for me to take more pictures. he has a book which i plan to get: concept design.

he was a product design guy who pushed and built his own curriculum to be transdisciplinary. he encouraged me to do the same...take the classes that interests me. not buy too much into the laid out program in front of me. i visited the media design masters program open house this week. that stuff definitely interests me still. (okay, here's where i will lose 90% of you.)conceptualizing and designing narratives for experience. entertainment concept design, such as theme parks, installations, virtual/physical environments. particularly in the real of communicating brands. they're growing fields in the design industry (which seemingly none of my classmates are aware to) and only some of the teachers know about. the aiga has official communities on experience design and brand experience.

i'm getting excited again about where my creative path will go in the next year at AC. i'm enjoying all of my classes...and hope that it will continue to be that way. i wanna avoid those classes that are reputed to be drags or just don't apply to my career goals at all. i'll have to talk to my dept chair soon about what i wanna do. i'm thinking seriously about taking the maximum number of units next term. (which might be kinda nuts...considering that i wanna go back to sf twice for weddings. thank goodness for my powerbook tho.)

trying not to be too overwhelmed by my program of my assigned curriculum, but really hone in and focus on my creative aspirations. traveling, going to museums, and immersing myself in the new, creative, and cutural will be very important.

the k-town dragon experience

i wearily survived a long day of school yesterday...despite barely any sleep. after school i ended up giving n8 a ride to check out a glass store in pasadena, which was closed. also scoped out the map store which has a lot of really interesting propspector's tools and of course, maps. after some deliberating on where to eat...we gathered a bunch of lightbox folks and headed out to k-town. kristina guided us to the dragon: THE chinese restaurant. funny name for a chinese restaurant run by korean people.

she told us that there are some korean people know chinese cuisine. we went in. everyone in the entire restaurant except for us was korean. it was interesting. she helped us order the food. i can't really remember the korean names or the chinese translated names for that matter, but it was good. (just look at the photo on sunday.) a couple of the dishes i've never had before. we think that they may have tried to gyp us on the noodles...and kristina protested but to no avail. oh well. the food was good.

afterwards she led us to some cafe/dessert place off of 6th street and kenmoore (sp?). there was a big hassle with the parking and we almost got into a big argument with the punk parking attendant korean dude throwing an attitude. we wanted to park for the "free 1st 20 minutes" but he wouldn't let us. our group got a little perturbed by all of that. however in my perspective it was all worth it once i tried the korean shaved ice dessert. it had ice cream on top, fruit, red beans, and corn flakes. i think it was "fruit red bean bingsa." maybe it was originally a chinese dessert or taiwanese? who knows. but this was definitely the best i ever tasted.

i wanna explore k-town again. it's a much more interesting place than little tokyo, chinatown, thaitown, or little armenia. it's a large cultural community with really funny store and restaurant signage. definitely a place i'll wanna take visiting friends to explore (if i have some recommendations on where to go first.) i think a lot of the places are expensive tho, so i can't make it too much or a regular habit. anyone know any cool places in k-town?

recharged

got 8 hours of sleep! in my bed too! woo hoo. only 1 or 2 hours the nite before crashed out on the couch.

time to go to work.

readjusting the age gauge

i managed close to 3 hours of sleep. i felt ok in the morning...well ok enough. i can't keep this up for too long. getting old ya know. i'm not a 21-year old spring chicken after all...but years beyond that... despite what people might think. just today, stacey guessed that i was 21... while she is 26 herself! whenever someone asks me here at AC how old i am, i have them guess.

usually people aren't that off...especially if they're my age. sigh. i wasn't dressed that grungy either. i wonder just how old i'll look when i leave this school. hopefully the long, sleepless studio nites won't add on 5 years of age on my face. that would be horrible. i also hope that i still have my hair for a long while.

who knows? maybe it's the sunny so-cal weather that's improving my skin?

it's still slightly weird to be in a class of peers ranging from 19-36 or so. i'm only a year or two above the average incoming age for my class. it's weird to be a peer on one level and not on another level. that, plus the physical age thing is really strange. i can usually nail people's ages with accuracy...particularly with asians, who are on another age maturation curve than the rest of the population.

it's really not good when girls guess that you're younger than them (therefore mentally placing you in a certain category...the no younger guys thing), when you're really older than them! it would also be weird if a really young girl thinks that you're really close to their age...when you're really too old for them! it's like finding the stick short on both ends. this is all hypothetical of course.

i better continue to give hints about my previous life experience so that folks can hopefully get a little bit of a clue and maybe even offer a little bit more respect. (not that they were disrespectful before.) but it's always funny experiencing that moment of truth for them, realizing exactly how old i am and that i have some life experience over them.

i gotta wear the cal sweatshirt a little more. i really gotta put on the alumni license plate frame, too.

time to go home!

i'm finally ready to leave the computer lab. printed out 30 pages of my best type exercises. hopefully i won't have to change too much.

i think i've only been here this late once or twice before. the handful who are here get into a zone and plug away. fewer people are online to chat with. (not that AIM chatting is really allowed at the labs, but i'm on my powerbook...hehehe.) i actually know a few people here too. i really should do this once or twice a week to be productive. it's easy to get a computer too (tho all i need is an ethernet jack)...not like at 8pm.

i could probably last here til my 9am class, but i'm not that nuts...yet. time to go home and do some more work!

a long niter moving type

in the lab. trying to focus. hacking away at my type homework. i wonder if anyone's called me. i can't get very good reception down here. still checking e-mail and blogs. not eating or drinking. just the powerbook, the type exercises, my tablet and me. i haven't really worked in the lab for a while now. talking to bobby last nite made me wanna try and get stuff done here.

i got my class schedule for next term yesterday. i want to dump all of my sections and rebuild my class schedule completely. sigh. i really want to move that saturday class so that i can come up for weddings.

spent a couple of hours this afternoon trying to figure out my cell phone stuff. nothing yet. i have a month left in my contact. need to call motorola tomorrow to see if they'll cover the damage under the 1 year warranty. i hope i hope i hope.

very addictive blog...phat asian girl. anyone need motivation/encouragement to lose weight and be in shape? we probably all do.

playtime is over

did enough exploring and playing for a while. need to buckle down. i'm starting to feel the stress and workload returning. gotta be on top of stuff this week for the upcoming scholarship portfolio. can't deal with family worries about safety in europe. (i definitely won't travel if it's not safe...but in the meantime it is...so i want to.) i think my productivity this next week will make or break the outlook for my next few weeks.

today we stopped by farmer's market. drove by melrose. collected inspiration for my elvis impersonator story.

insomnia

dropped off dan at bevelery center to explore by himself while i did some work at one of the top 10 cafes in LA...insomnia. (what a cool name for a cafe, eh?) there were a bunch of writers working on their laptops there. i think they were all guys. probably all working on trying to work on movie scripts. it was a cool enough place. too bad the drinks were kinda expensive. the only drink that was under $2 was a cup of house coffee.

by the end of the year, i'm going to try to hit up each of the coffeehouses on the top 10 list. i really do work better in coffeehouses. i can really focus. i really ought to be doing a lot more reading. teachers give out assigned and recommended readings...that i'm just barely skimming. gotta push myself to expand my mind.

old country cafe

i hit up this taiwanese cafe with unlimited boba drink refills on garfield and valley. the food was pretty darn cheap. dan and i didn't really realize what we were ordering. my "meat stew over rice noodles" turned out to be pork (not beef) over soupy thin vermicelli-like noodles. totally unexpected. i had trouble ordering my meal...not b/c the lady couldn't understand english...but b/c i was cracking up over ordering the english name...especially after dan just ordered the same thing. i had to fake coughing while ordering so that the waitress wouldn't think that i was a total spas-case. i barely coughed out "same as him." i sometimes find the most random things funny, i guess.

here you get free refills on the boba milk tea or green milk tea. i only managed to get a second refill. i once heard of a girl who got 3 refills. good thing i didn't overindulge myself. after driving dan to the airport...i really, really, really felt the effects of the caffeine and made it home just in time. whew.

my cell phone woes

i'm getting extremely, tired of carrying my cell phone in a zip lock bag. the antenna had broken off...and the only way that i can receive or send calls is by having it aligned properly.

yeah, it's kinda funny and it's kinda not. when i'm not talking on the phone, i either have to carry the phone in my hand upright, so that the antenna stays attached or else i place the phone in the sealed bag so that i don't lose the antenna. one good thing is that it helps me cut down on my daytime, peak minutes. another good thing is that it's preventing me from talking on the phone while driving...which is dangerous.

when i got home tonite, i ran from my parked car up to my apartment holding my cell phone in my hand. along the way i dropped the antenna...so i had to go back out there with a flashlight looking for it in the dark. good thing it had dropped by my car. otherwise i woulda been in big trouble.

i won't know until tomorrow if i'm under my one year contract still. if it is, the att store will replace it for free.

if not i have a few options:
1) superglue my antenna back to the phone. (the metal contacts still work.)
2) buy a replacement plastic housing piece and get a new antenna. (probably will cost $25+)
3) dump my att service and get a better, new cell and plan (probably with t-mobile...which doesn't have as good reception...and also has nites starting at 9 pm.)

i've been checking out the plans. i had always thought that the so-cal plans were much better than the nor-cal ones...but j just got a pretty sweet deal with att. sigh...i don't want to deal with this now...but i gotta do something soon.

the club-hoppin lyric-droppin LA Life Weekly

the delayed 91 pix from this past week. i usually try to upload my weekly albums every sunday nite, but last nite my dsl was cranky...so i couldn't finish the upload and posting until this morning. for anyone new clicking thru (to see pix of jin...courtesy of tony), i try to document all of the new and visually interesting things i come across in my LA explorations.

this past weekend was really busy just cuz i had/have a visitor. good thing it's a weekend when i still have some lax time. the work load is gonna get crazy soon.

sun day

we avoided the rain yesterday and escaped to the westside...

* hopped over to santa monica for the first part of the day.
* wandered over to a farmer's market at main street and got some mexican breakfast food.
* checked out westside oikos for church with erica.
* bummed around the 3rd street promenade and scoped out some street performers.
* checked out the downtown standard hotel. a pretty swank, cool place.
* worshipped at urban mosaic which is held in a club. i really liked the service. i think i'll be going there regularly for now. the message was all about how we shouldn't merely be like an elvis impersonator...merely imitating someone. in our case...jesus. it's all about getting in touch with and experiencing jesus, and not about knowing/living the principles (rituals/practices) of christianity. it's about knowing and living the fullness of christ.
* ate some korean bbq at cho sun.
* met up with suzy at lollicup. we were trying to find a new place to go in k-town for dessert or coffee...but didn't find anything super great. they have some pretty nice, loungy coffeehouses/bars but we didn't wanna pay $4 for a cup of coffee. so we ended up at lollicup. anyone know of anywhere good to go in k-town?

rain rain go away

good gravy. it's been pouring. i had to change my pants b/c they got soaked.

yesterday...went to a not too informative portfolio workshop. i knew most of it already b/c i've been in the real working world before...and been around enough portfolio prep, but it was a good reminder to start thinking about how to shape my body of work that i show around.

met up with harry for lunch. he gave me a tour of the cal poly dorms. it was so weird. kinda like the dorms at berkeley...yet sorta in a twilight zone atmosphere. the dorms all had a unique smell. paintings on the hall walls. i can't believe i didn't bring my camera. kinda hard to explain...but imagine what the dorms might be like in a place where everyone is a technical nerd and it's about 2/3 guys. definitely weird.

we ate at green street. a pretty nice place for lunch. i think my grandma and my mom would like it. i got my salad for the week.

taking dan around town

i was trying to arrange for people to hang out tonite for the dan-dinner-star wars theater outing, but the pouring rain kept a couple of girls away. we ate at cha cha cha down here. it's different than the ones in sf. caribbean food which was good. crowded, popular outdoor covered restaurant. we got a bit wet b/c of holes in the roof. there was pretty much a few waterfalls inches away from dan pouring thru the roof...collected into buckets. place was pretty loud, so it was pretty funny when dan had trouble hearing some of the conversation. i tend to like loud, colorful places...but i know a lot of people don't.

checked out star wars in 30 minutes. it cost over $1 for every 2 minutes. it was pretty funny. jabba the hutt was great. pretty funny. too bad i already knew the ending of the story.

afterwards we all tried to go get some dessert. roamed around k-town in circles...but couldn't find the main strip (on western) too quickly, so we gave up and went home. afterwards i took him to get 2-for-1 strawberry milk drinks at life plaza.

ghettoized cell phone

i broke my cell phone antenna. so now i either need to get a new phone or get it fixed. i now carry it around in a zip lock plastic bag, b/c i don't want to risk losing the small vital part. it's very, very sad.

shopping around for new cell deals since my year is up. we'll see. have to do something by the end of the weekend.

all pooped out

hung out with tony tonite. we hit up lucy's for some good, cheap mexican fast food...then headed over to the viper room to check out a performance by jin, the asian rapper who's now with ruff ryders.

it seems like most asian guys know who jin is. he got popular and made it big by battling with other mc's on bet.

great small club performance. tony and i were in the front row standing there. we got there early....pretty empty. an hour later it started to pick up. about 40 people or so in the club. his flows were pretty tight. we took pix with him. hope he makes it big. if you're around in LA, you can see him at 1680 tomorrow nite.

time to go shopping

i can't believe it. i only have one shirt that i can wear to go clubbing. gonna see jin rap tonite. i left my other clothes in sf. i never go clubbing down here.

elvis eats rice

i'm doing research now on my young thai elvis and elvis asians in general. i once met a chinese elvis from houston. he was pretty good.

oh my...i just found another link. after clicking above, check out the chinese elvis. he sure has a lot of famous friends. this is fantastic!

makes me really wanna go to england now!

see saw wednesday

today's been kinda up and down...

- only slept 2 hours last nite. boo. a bad way to start off the day...slightly irritated.

- got to school on time to print out my type homework on time. but 3 of the printers were down and my thing took forever to print...so i was 40 min late to class.

+ my teacher got my name right when he was critting my work...which was good. (whew.)

- he got my name right a second time in class, after my cell phone rang while he was talking. "thank you, greg."

+ as i was leaving school, there was a red bull promo giveaway. the driver of the red bull car handed me a can and said "it energizes your body and mind." i needed a pick-me-up.

+ got home and checked my e-mail. my screenwriter pal had e-mailed me a great idea for my thai elvis story. yay. now i can focus a little more tonite.

+ i got my europe flights reserved just now! woo hoo. it wasn't the first route i was planning for...but just as good. i still have a couple of weeks to change my mind or my itinerary. looks like munich for a day/nite then prague/vienna. i'm excited. i can't get too excited. i have a lot of work to do tonite.

i finally finished my type homework. instead of immediately going to sleep, i posted to the lumps log.

hukilau: island on geary

saturday's dinner discovery was great. hukilau on geary and masonic. i was about to get a little complacent for a dinner place choice til i was reminded that i usually go for the new. so i ran across the street and picked up a sfbg, where i found a mini-review. everyone in the car was cool with hawaiian so away we went.

the flame torch lamps and the dark cool decor looked intriguing. the vibe of the place was great. mostly a stylish black and red interior. different from izuzu in j-town. prices of most entrees were under $10. the staff was all asian and the waitresses were nice. it did take a while to get our food tho, but it's b/c the place was hopping pretty quickly. we were lucky to beat the bulk of the rush. lots o young people there.

the ukele band felt authentic. the dudes were all old. i requested my favorite hawaiian song, "drop baby drop" but they didn't know the words. i think they only knew the old hawaiian songs. i'll have to go back when they have another ukelele band. (music is on friday and saturday nites.)

the food was good. my combo...hukilau chicken and mahi mahi was a winner. (all the fishes are supposed to be good.) other people thought that their hamburger dishes were just ok. (e.g. the loco moco.)

this would be a great place for a birthday dinner, if only they took reservations or could accomodate a large group of people. i'll be sure to hang out there again next time i'm back.

the LA-SF work-hard play-hard life weekly

an astounding 138 pictures to share with you. slices of my busy life for your viewing pleasure on shutterfly. it was a good week. got a lot done. saw a lot of people...nearly everyone i tried to see. a couple of people never connected with me. anyhoo...enjoy. i hope something here makes you smile.

the last day: day 4

monday...

* met suzanne in the morning at stonestown borders. if all goes as planned...she'll be appearing in my europe pix next month.

it's always an interesting thing to try to finally meet someone you never met in person before. decided to meet at borders so that we can look at travel books. a couple of people had met her before. but no one told me what she looks like. so when i got to the cafe area, i was looking around at the lone asian girls. i spotted one and said "suzanne" semi-quietly from a distance, but she didn't turn around. usually the sound of your own name (even spoken softly) will grab your attention. but i should have know that this girl wasn't her, since she was about to put on her headphones. i was hoping to have figured out on my own who she is (using my fabulous intuition)...but it didn't work. she ended up calling me on my cell...and that's how i found my short, bandanna wearing, future travel buddy.

turns out she's been going to sunset (and also lumps a couple of times), but knows only a few girls. she seems pretty adventurous and willing to do a lot of stuff. hopefully erica can keep up. heh heh.

we perused the prague and vienna travel books. there were some interesting reads...like cheap sleeps in prague, budapest, and vienna and weird europe. i know that i was grinning while reading b/c i was getting excited about the possibilities of my upcoming travels.

* had bonnie meet up with me at borders an hour later. we lunched asian per her request and went to taiwan point. that has only been my second time there. i couldn't think of any good asian place in the city that i haven't been to and wanted to try. we ordered a few things off of the "street food" section of the menu. so full. so stuffed.

* driving home. took the 580 route. called a half dozen people cuz i wasn't sure if 580 E hit the 5. lis called me back and eassured my driving apprehensions. it took about 6 hours. 410 miles. just about the same distance. looks to be about the same as going the gilroy route. (that other route might just be faster if i don't hit traffic.)

* no homework at all was accomplished this weekend!

crosstown madness: day 3

more busyness...

* 4 hours of sleep. woke up for 8:30 church service.
* crossed town to get dim sum at harbor village with some of the relatives. we took a bunch of funny pictures with our sunglasses on. i think it musta looked funny all four of us walking into the restaurat with our shades on.
* crossed back across town to pick up a bud, then crossed back to the marina area to hang out.
* walked around chestnut for a bit. we also walked along union street and came across a runway model tryout event at this bar restaurant called charlies. we saw models walk down the aisle (in the open air restaurant), share their 411 (height, weight, bust, inseam, etc). most had some pretty good walks. a few didn't.
* crossed back across town to drop off friend, then crossed back across to hang out with my grandma for dinner.
* dropped off grandma. went to kabuki.
* saw "where's the party yaar?" a hillarious movie. not a revolutionary plot but that's ok.
* then saw "charlotte, sometimes. i'd offer a mixed review. aferwards hung out chattin with my film passionate friend.

super sf saturday: day 2

busy boy yesterday...

* had lunch with yeah yeah and nein nein. got the usual round table chicken garlic pizza to bring over. we talked about maybe getting something else...but i didn't really know what else i could possibly order for them. so everytime i go over i hop over to irving street and bring them a pizza.

* at their place i noticed hundreds of splatted bug bodies on the front of my car. it was pretty darn gross. all from highway 5 i'm sure. i quickly washed it off. yuck. (yeah, of course i took a couple of pictures, heh heh.)

* popped on down to the burlingame pez museum to hang out with my sis and cousin kevin. learned a few interesting things about pez...that it started out in austria. if anyone's interested, there's the pezcific coast convention in LA next weekend. (dan, you can pick up yo star wars pez next weekend.)

* stopped by my cousins place and just chilled.

* back to the city to visit donny the pizza boy. as usual i hung out behind the counter and chatted about stuff while he was spinning the dough. looks like i'll be helping revamp the pirro's logo.

* i finally got the pageant sweatshirt which i designed (sorta). i had sketched out a nifty design, and it was horrendously translated to a real ugly piece of work. good gosh. (see pix later.)

* met up with a few peeps to get some dinner. i was all set to be complacent and go to a familiar place (left at alburqurque), when dchi says that he'd think that i would wanna try someplace new. yeah...i'm slipping. so i hopped outta the car and picked up a sfbg and sfweekly. quickly scanned and read about hukilau. it was such a fantastic place. more on the experience later. i wonder how long it's been around. masonic and geary. more later.

* visited with ro late at nite. chatted with her and her husband, showed some of my death valley photos (set to music) and some of my work. very nice visit. they find me very enthusiastic.

* stopped back in the sunset to discuss miss cherry blossom preparation.

long nite. not much sleep. off to church and another full day now!

sf home-trip: day 1

after fully rested...i embarked on the drive up to sf by myself. this is the second time that i'm driving up by myself. went the 5-152-101 route. took me 5 1/2 hour to get to san mateo. i figure it took me about 410 or so miles to get up to sf. when i go back i'm gonna go the east bay route (580) which i think is a little faster.

i must have killed a few hundred bugs on the way up here. splat splat splat on the window. yuck.

it seemed like the first hour i was in the bay area...my phone started to explode. i don't normally get that many calls. nice to hear from people who wanna hang out. (if anyone else does...do call me up...my weekend is still a little open.)

had dinner with po po at primavera. so full. oso bucco and some pasta. i think my stomach has been shrinking.

"crouching tiger, hidden cheese" at the asian american film fest. hung out with jyee, thomas, joyce and some canadian girls. some things were hillarious...like how to do the asian squat...official japanese ettiquette in eating sushi and saying sorry. a couple of shorts were pretty lame. it started off strong....ended kinda weak. ah well.

weary and sleepless

i've been up for nearly 37 hours. that's right. pulled an all-niter last nite. (well...might have half napped for about 20 min. but i'm not too sure.) was working on my teenage drunk driving ads (which turned out great). also did a hollywood research trip for my LA character.

last nite went to the palms and the waco soap gallery for research on my character design for the narrative. i'm gonna base it loosely on the thai elvis at the palms. he's not too bad. kinda old tho. suz went with me and we explored thai town for a little bit. (however, moo says that it's not real thai town.)

after that went to n8's to work on my ads. he helped crit the type and let me use his printer. he also needed me to drive him to school again, so after i made a 6am run home for a shower and clothes, i went back to his place...finished mounting my stuff and went to school. was late by about 30 min. felt really bad. missed out on the warm-up for drawing concepts. felt like crud, b/c i was late...and now i feel like crud b/c i'm so tired.

must sleep in the next 30 min. long recharge for the drive tomorrow!

more glam goobledygook

just found a fab site to increase my verbal repertoire of new and nonsensical slang. pseudodictionary.com

some interesting "g" finds: gaberate, GrooveyTuesday, gumballistic, gun-fu, guy-fi, gwank, and Gzzt.

if you're stumped thinking of a cool username, snappy response, unique domain url...be blocked no more. just look up some cool new words on this site. i've been looking for a new domain to double as more of a portfolio site and name for a fictional/future-real small business. i found a few. maybe i'll buy something soon. nope. none of the above are available dot coms that i'd consider.

sigh...the things i do to distract myself from work.

travel dreaming

i only got 3 hours of sleep last nite. i talked to a few other people today...and they all got 4 hours. ah the AC life. i broke my 4 hour minimum sleep resolution again.

i was tired, but i'm not anymore. it looks like europe is a go! 2 days by myself in germany...then meeting up with erica and suzanne for 10 days in prague and vienna. munich or frankfurt. that's the question. anyone have input?

know of any good movies that takes place in those locations? just learned about before sunrise which is set in vienna. all i really know about are the sausages.

tony's feeding my wanderlust and told me about virtual tourist. so i just created a page on the community site too.

gotta get my head back and do my work. i would like to sleep tonite.

my sassy girl

finally saw this highly acclaimed korean movie. at the end of the first part i thought it was over and just so so. at the end of the second part...this movie isn't that great. at the end of the overtime, it was good after all. sure was a long movie. seeing this made me kinda wanna go visit my aunt.

LA story hunter

i need to come up with a story about a character running around LA. sounds easy enough? or hard enough? gotta communicate it in graphic novel treatment. so i'm off to the westside to go hunting for interesting peeps. anyone come across any really interesting characters that i could draw/write about? character visual design and plot outline is due this thursday!

the LA life weekly

86 pix from this past week. added some of my windshield district pix which i didn't add a couple of weeks ago. notihng much else this weekend. went to mosaic tonite with mel. saw aaron and betty there. didn't see anyone else i knew cuz it was too dark. service was held in a parking lot, b/c the club was shut down...still cool tho, but cold.

the bestest french toast breakfast

yesterday had breakfast with ron who was down visiting. we tried out marston's for breakfast. man, that was the best breakfast i've had in a long while. definitely killer french toast. they fry it with an outer crust of corn flakes. next time either of us makes french toast we're defintely gonna try that. had a great omelete too. i like breakfast foods. must explore more places like that in LA. yum.

the junction

today i checked out another new church in the morning. the junction. buz, the guy i met sitting in the airport a few weeks ago goes there. it's definitely a unique place. about 80 people. very down to earth. real community. seems like every other person is in the music or movie business. somewhat of a creative environment tho. not too many asians. there were 2 of us out of the whole group. seems that there are a bunch of european transplants. had some great friendly chats with people afterwards. that makes such a huge difference in terms of a person's impression of a church and the hospitality and warmth of a group.

i'm starting to whet my pallete for asian american culture again in anticipation for the film fest in sf next weekend...

volcano high

my co-worker dave had a fun potluck-movie screening gathering of a korean flick called volcano high. it's a fun chop-sockey flick of mindless fun. couldn't really make sense of some of the plot threads at the end...but that's ok. imagine the level of insanity of shaolin soccer...but a little more. add some of the matrix special effects, school combat setting of x-men, and spirit of crouching tiger, hidden dragon and you get this movie...along with some absurdity. it was one of the top korean movies in 2001. feels a lot like japanese manga.

it's a great movie for a screening party. (better than the movie scratch...heh.)

little shop of horrors

thanks to a fab tip by tony, pat and i got to see the east west players production of little shop of horrors for free! we vollunteered as ushers...which was really only about 20 minutes of work. we got to sit in the very front row (in empty seats) and had free parking. what a treat.

we worked the matinee show...which was only half-filled. it's interesting checking out what types of people go to these things. i'm sure that the prettier people around my age would probably go to the evening show. not the 2pm show. i saw one dad and his son dressed exactly a like...plaid long-sleeved shirt, jeans, and shoes. it was kinda cute. i should have taken their picture. shucks.

the performance was enjoyable. i knew the story from the steve martin/rick moranis muscial movie. and again...from the head of the class tv show version. (anyone out there remember that? dennis...the big guy was audrey II.) i wonder if some of my young'un readers born in the 80s were too young to remember that. (they were too young to remember the challenger after all!)

i did miss out on a few scenes tho because i fell asleep. i didn't realize it at first. i felt so bad later on (after pat told me...particularly about my swaying head back and forth)...becauze i'm so sure that the actprs saw me. i was in the front row for pete's sake! this definitely is my greatest weakness,,,my swaying, nodding head. i don't even realize it usually when it's happening! curses. i missed a couple of key scenes...like when the dentist boyfriend dude is killed. i just remember next that seymore was feading him to audrey II.

the setting for this east west version is in LA chinatown. there are some liberties taken with the new setting, and they come up with a different ending. i wonder what the ending is to the orginal musical. maybe the movie took it in a slightly different direction with a slightly happier ending? anyone out there know?

i'm planning on being an usher for each of the east west players' performances. all you gotta do is call the box office and tell them that you'd like to usher. they have up to 4 ushers per show. for some reason...pat and i were the only ushers. i guess the other ones flaked or cancelled. park for free. save $20-30 on a ticket. get the best seats in the house. arrive just 45 min earlier. collect tickets and hand out programs. (my program passer-outer gig was the easier of the two.) help do a sweep at the end to collect left behind junk...and that's it! oh and you still get free parking...so we ate at curry house afterwards. what a sweet deal, huh? thanks tony!

the week in review...

lightbox: the all-niter burn out

this past thursday was the first time the school christian fellowship met under it's new name. lightbox. what a great name, huh? i helped to come up with it. i just got a thing for fellowship names that start with the letter "L." anyhoo...the idea is very much about our call as christians to be lights in the world, to walk in the light, and to know the true light. also a lightbox is a traditional, universal design tool...for photo, advertising, graphics, illustration, etc.

i helped brainstorm the nite with nate. since it's now week 7 for everyone...midterm week...we knew that a lot of people would be pulling all-niters to get their projects and papers done. so after some brainstorming a week or so ago...we came up with the "all-niter burn out." an interactive time to share our AC burn out experiences and to support and encourage each other.

so last nite, we had some worship, broke up into groups and shared our all-niter horror stories and survival tactics. i shared my ER room, cup of coffee, and 20 minute nap strategy. also shared my 12am hat restaurant i shared a brief message during the meeting. it was all about what it means to run the race to win, to know how we need to train, and to realize what we're running towards.

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it a slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

~ Paul [I Cor 9:24-27]

i think at AC, a lot of us are familiar with the intense environment that we're in. how we and those around us are in it to win and be the best. i sure am. like the great atheletes, like michael jordan, we need to be self-motivated to win, to be competitive and be aggressive. that analogy is given to what it really means to live out faith here. to be focused, balanced, disciplined....to be running at all times,,.not just when you're in the thick of the race or have company...but to also do it out of your own motivation.

it's been a little while since i've really had to speak. cobbled together the message right after class. was gonna share about one passage that didn't quite fit as well...then found the perfect one when i was just flipping thru my bible to get there. it's funny cuz i don't really use this particular bible too much. it was highlighted too and really stood out to me. despite too many "ums..." shared during my piece of sharing, i think people were pretty much able to follow along and connect.

after lightbox, they went to in-n-out. almost went, but i'm still avoiding burgers and fries. so i held up. yay.