Insert Profound Title.

When you get to the end, stop.

2009-08-22T00:16:00.000-07:00

This will be my last post before I head off to college. I don't have any words of wisdom, or pithy statements, or insightful dialogue to fill this space. No, I don't have enough experience to give you anything like that.

I will, however, say thanks for the memories. It's been a beautiful whatever number of years, and I will miss you all dearly. Don't be strangers, and I will see you all whenever the world allows us to do so.

Cheers.
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I wish I had some sort of picture to sum up our existence thus far, but I'm nowhere near a good enough photographer to create that sort of impact. Instead, I can only offer to you a moment of my artsy-fartsy side. Enjoy.

And I'll see you all later.

Orgasmic.

2009-08-19T19:55:00.000-07:00

As much as I love to eat, I am but a poor student who favors barbecue, burgers, and street tacos. This would explain why I had never been to a restaurant with the gastronomical prowess (and price range) of Craft Los Angeles. My cousin Janet and her fiancee, Jerrold, took me and mi madre out for a fantastic dinner to celebrate me leaving for college. Congratulations to the both of them, despite the fact that I didn't realize they were engaged until Facebook told me so.

If you've ever watched Top Chef, you may recognize it as Tom Colicchio's restaurant.

The courses were plentiful, the food both delicious and aesthetically pleasing. I won't even being to list off the numerous dishes served there, but here are some of the highlights of the night.

Kona Kampachi, Prosciutto & Aged Balsamic

Raw fish with pork if you really break it down. Strange? Yes. Tasty? Certainly.

Tuna Ceviche with Jalapenos

Something as tiny as the ring of jalapeno on top made a world of difference, changing an otherwise ordinary ceviche into something far more appetizing.

Country Pâté

Went lovely with the paired bread.

Quail with Wild Blueberries

Best part of the meal. The quail was tender, succulent, and paired surprisingly well with the blueberries.

Lavender Soda with Sorbet served in a shot glass

A refreshing bit of soda (reminded me of those strange artisan sodas) that worked well to clean the palette before dessert.

Chocolate Souffle

As good as souffles go. Not anything spectacular, but still satisfying.

Fruit jelly with lavender sugar; caramel corn.

The fruit jellies reminded me of Turkish delights, but more delicate. You sure as hell aren't going to find that quality of caramel corn at a fair.

__________________________________________

On the flipside, I went to the Dodgers vs Cardinals game. Actually, I went to the all-you-can-eat pavilion at the Dodgers Stadium. The game just happened to be there.

The final count: Four Dodger Dogs, a plate of nachos, two cokes, some cotton candy.

Curstina beat me, though.

This was also the game where some wannabe pop star completely killed "God Bless America." I couldn't help but cringe at her...interpretation of the famous song.

Thankfully, the night was saved with a Journey sing-a-long, lyrics in all. Welcome to America.

All I do is eat.

2009-08-17T13:48:00.000-07:00

Really, my entire week has revolved around lunch dates...those final meetings with friends before we part ways. Saddening, really.

Anyways, Ray's back from a month in Mongolia. So, of course, we ate pho.

The large windows of Bamboo Song make for much nicer lighting than the darkness of Pho Hana.

Once again satisfied my meat pie craving that has been eating away at me since I watched Sweeney Todd. Perhaps a bit demented? Anyways, I am a huge fan of Tudor House's 2 for 1 special on Friday nights. Authentic cuisine, lots of people with British accents, and freshly baked pies.

Meat and Potato Pie. The meat was tender, the crust flaky. Perhaps the chips were a bit too soggy, but they tasted great nonetheless.

Good ol' Shepherd's Pie. The crusted mashed potatoes on top made the dish.

And sometimes, you just HAVE to have Tommy's. I couldn't decide between the cheeseburger and chili dog, so I got both.

My innards may regret that decision, but I sure don't.

Arguably one of the coolest things about living in a city with a large Japanese community is the number of festivals. Festivals = food. I like food. Ergo, I like festivals.

Tofu Okonomiyaki, Gyoza, and a nice helping of Takoyaki for $11, plus another $1 for a bottle of Ramune. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Oh, how I will miss eating all this food when I head off to college. Dorm food, here I come.

Foooooooooooooood

2009-08-13T23:20:00.000-07:00

So I've been eating a lot this week. Well, this week ain't even over yet. It's been a good week thus far.

To start: The Indonesia Mission Team had a hankering for some Indonesian food (because we missed the taste, and because it was the only thing our poor stomachs could digest. Seriously. Try going vegetarian for two weeks then eat a steak) so we headed out to Ramayani in Westwood. Lots of delicious food, but the soup stood out the most. It was a light coconut milk soup with rice noodles and sliced hard boiled egg. Surprisingly cool and refreshing, I liked it a lot considering that I'm not a huge fan of coconut.

Next up we have The Counter! Round 6, and still going strong. I don't have much to say about this one. It's self-explanatory.

1/3 lb beef patty (medium rare)
Fried Egg
Grilled Onions
Roasted Corn and Black Bean Salsa
Grilled Pineapple
Jalapenos
Sharp Provolone
Russian Dressing

And last for now, Jay Bee's with Kelly! I've taken lotsa pictures of the food, so thankfully Kelly made my food shot significantly easier on the eyes :]

Then some froyo afterwards, but that's neither here nor there.

On to more food tomorrow!

Start at the beginning...

2009-08-08T15:57:00.000-07:00

...and when you get to the end, stop.

A photo diary of my trip to Indonesia. A complete lack of continuity, partially because I'm too damned lazy to write an actual trip report. So here we go.

Airport and Korea.

I can't even imagine having an ipod at this kid's age. Not that I'm all that much older.

This is what I do when I have time to kill in an airport.

Undergound tunnel by Idae, Ewha Women's University. My sister pointed this out to me while I visited her in Korea.

Shinchon, Seoul, Korea. Met up with my sister in Korea for a few hours, went out to eat a delicious lunch. And yes, there is definitely cheese on that rice and chicken.

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Indonesia.

Taken to some Chinese restaurant in Semarang. They would intoxicate live shrimp in alcohol, then boil them live. Sucking on the head tasted like what we called a "shrimp cocktail." Har har.

Sunsets in Semarang.

The infamous Durian. Love it or hate it. I was of the latter.

Momo! This dog followed us around all the time.

Some kindergarten students that we taught English to. Freaking adorable.

Chocolate and sprinkle crepes for 1000 rupiah (about 10 cents US)

The guy actually threw in one for free. What an awesome dude.

Kepeting Taoco (or something. The "c" is pronounced as a "ch"). Crab in a sweet soybean and pepper-based sauce.

The family of the elder with whom we stand while in Sugihwaras. Wonderfully welcoming, gracious, and kind. I couldn't thank them enough for their hospitality. Their kids were quite adorable (and hilarious) too.

The mainstay of Sugihwaras. Every farmer grows his own tobacco to sell to the ridiculously wealthy Indonesian tobacco companies.

We had the joy of playing with of the children in Sugihwaras. Always smiling, energetic, and curious. They were fun to be with, though only for a few days.

Ever have Java in Java?

A lovely place to sit and take a break, with the smell of nature and the cool breeze rustling through the bamboo. I could have sit here for hours, had I not been dragged away.

Oh, swingsets.

We had the seat right behind business class on one of our flights; yay for extra legroom!

Mangosteen. One of the most delicious fruits that I have ever eaten. I'm glad Alex made me realize they are no longer illegal in the US.

Pizza with crumbled sausage, potato, mayo, mushroom, sweet corn, bacon, and... sweet potato-stuffed crust. Idae, Seoul, Korea.

The largest Buddhist Temple in the world, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Truly a wonder to explore and behold.

________________________________

My favorites:

Borobudur.

This man was bedridden for three days after a back injury. It prevented him from farming, his livelihood. And so we prayed for his health and did what we could to help, but it didn't feel like enough...

Another Sugihwaran who let us into her home and let us chase around the livestock that was running around her house. It's quite hard to catch a frantic chicken.

And so there we go. A small slice of my trip to Indonesia (and Korea, to an extent). Hope you enjoyed the pictures. Now on to the next locale.

Adventure is out there! XD

Yum.

2009-07-26T18:14:00.000-07:00

Not in the mood to write anything right now. But here's some food.

Rosalind's.

Velvet Poppers at MILK

I remember when these only cost $.50 each.

Brownie Sundae. No nuts because of Ashley XD

At least I know that I'm eating enough. See you all when I'm back from Indonesia.

Winding roads, burnt mouths.

2009-07-22T11:09:00.000-07:00

To sum up my days of summer:

Ha. A pathetic attempt at humor.
_________________________

Anyways, some noteworthy things that I've eaten lately:

Banana and dulce de leche crepe, with a layer of caramelized sugar much like that on Crème brûlée. Eaten at Lala's Argentine Grill on Melrose, with a nice little candle to celebrate Curstina's birthday.

I've found my new favorite restaurant in terms of delicate textures and complex flavor profiles (you know, those places where "civilized" people eat). Barbecue doesn't count.

animal is randomly tucked away on Fairfax over by Canter's, with a black, unmarked storefront. It's quite easy to miss. Menu changes daily, and local ingredients are used extensively. I ate the "melted petit basque, chorizo, garlic bread." I don't want to bore you with details this time around, but I can safely say that I was pleasantly impressed.

For dessert - "bacon chocolate crunch bar, s&p anglaise." The bacon was surprisingly subtle, adding but a hint of salty bacon flavor that balanced out well with the sweetness of the chocolate. If anything, it added the same crunch of the crisp rice in a Krackel or Crunch bar. My two vices, stuck together. There's a good chance I died somewhere during that dessert.

_____________________

In other news, Jordan and I headed up to Mulholland Drive to take nighttime shots.

No commentary required.

Later, friends. Tonight's gonna be a good night.

Curious.

2009-07-21T18:53:00.000-07:00

How can something as simple as a lemon zester or ballpoint pen have so many reviews on Amazon.com??

I refuse to read a three-paragraph rant on the ergonomics of a bic pen, thank you very much.

Longing

2009-07-19T10:18:00.000-07:00

I haven't been to Kendo or Naginata for some time now. I guess it's good that I'm keeping active this summer, with Mission Training and all that. But I do truly miss the sound of bamboo clashing, people yelling, and getting thwacked on the head. So now I'm reduced to practicing on my own free time until class rolls around.

But in the meantime, here are some pictures from Kendo that I took a while back.

That is all.

Disney World?!

2009-07-15T11:53:00.000-07:00

Yes, I finally went. After talking about it since Freshman year, we pulled it off.

We, meaning these kids.

Anyways, I never actually thought I would go through with my Senior Trip plans. I mean, who does? But next thing I knew, I found myself walking through the gate of the terminal to board a flight to Orlando.

I have no idea how the passage of time worked out on the trip; it's all one big blur to me. So I will post a picture, followed by an explanation. Simply as that.

Tree of Life, a massive structure in the Animal Kingdom that's built around an oil rig. There is also a somewhat amusing show held in theater underneath the tree. I make unattractive faces.

Expedition Everest. Like the Matterhorn, on steroids. Even that doesn't do it justice. I want one here.

Oh no! Broken track!

Finding Nemo Musical, done with puppets. The concept sounds strange, but it's well executed and gave me quite a few laughs. There is, however, an annoying song at the end. Beware.

Ah, dinner at Le Cellier in Epcot. Beastly dinner. Started off with Candian Cheddar Soup with assorted Canadian breads. Followed that with a medium-rare salt-crusted prime rib and potatoes on the side. Ordered a skillet of baked mac and cheese, finished off with some Chocolate Moose (chocolate mousse rolled in crumbs with cookie-antlers and chocolate candies for eyes). Heavy, filling, delicious, and possibly hazardous.

Something of a splurge.

Ah, and a tiny little anecdote: at the fast pass machines for Test Track, we managed to trick the machine and end up with a buttload of fast passes. Yay for exploiting the system!

Venetian Masks. I want.

Mmm. Illuminations.

What a show. And, we got exclusive seats. Nice way to end a fantastic day.

I could have stayed on these two rides all day.

But clearly, the thing that I was the most psyched about was taking pictures with Power Rangers! :D

Oh jeez.

Full Montagu. Earl of Sandwich in Downtown Disney. Roast Beef, Provalone, Roma Tomatoes, Lettuce. Damn cheap, too!

Kitchen Sink from Beaches and Cream at the Beach Club resort. Eight scoops of ice cream, about a pound of toppings, and an entire can of whipped cream. Quarter shown for reference.

Not gonna lie, I was pretty jealous of their castle.

People thought I was crazy for taking my camera out for this shot.

Long exposure nighttime shots! :D

"Wishes" fireworks show! Very similar to "Remember..." and equally awesome. A beautiful display of shooting colorful pyrotechnics into the sky. I wouldn't mind doing that for a living.

Typical Partners statue shot.

But I had to take one for myself.

Lovely trip. Endlessly exciting. The perfect Senior Trip, and definitely a high point of my summer. Now off to Indonesia!

I won't bore you with the nuances of the differences between Disneyland and Disney World. I'll save that for whoever is unfortunate enough to join me in the parks.

Where is everyone?

2009-07-03T22:54:00.000-07:00

Seems that everyone is too busy with their respective lives to blog, which is a good thing. If you're blogging too much during summer, you're definitely on the computer too much.

Like me.

Well, at least this is worthy of mentioning.

That is, Skooby's in Hollywood.

It's a fairly famous hot dog place near Hollywood and Highland, but a tad removed from the most tourist-infested part over my the Kodak Theater and whatnot.

Chili cheddar hot dog with grilled onion was pretty dang good. Extremely generous with the cheese, chili was tasty but forgettable. The sausage had just the right amount of heat (read: a tad) and the casing had a nice but of snap to it. Onions were well-cooked and hot. The fries were also noteworthy, being a mix of normal long fries and thick cut potato chip-style bits. Hot, crispy, delicious fried goodness. The aioli (which they called "famous?") was just icing on the cake.

I'm a fan.

On a side note, I counted at least eight "RIP King of Pop" shirts, four Michael Jackson impersonators, and one person offering to give you maps to Neverland Ranch. MJ Mania is still on a high.

Fun Day. Epic Day.

2009-06-26T00:19:00.000-07:00

Hopefully, I'll be able to call more of my days epic as time goes on.

First, the fun day.

Went on an adventure with Teresa :D Drove up to the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena where we made fun of some pieces, marveled at others, and in general got to stare at the works of the old masters: Picasso, Rembrandt, Renoir, etc. And students were free! Had lots of fun with the water-calligraphy thing-thing.

Got REALLY hungry talking about food, so we drove down to the Boiling Crab after talking about it for the past several months.

1 lb Crawfish, 1/2 lb Shrimp, Catfish basket, corn, the whole shebang. We devoured that spread like no other (and ended up wreaking of seafood in the process).

Then over to the Grove! No pictures there. But I finally got a jigger for my bar set. Success!

Aaaand on to MILK. No trip down Beverly Blvd is complete without a stop at my favorite baked goods store. Brownie Sundae for me and Teresa, and an Ooey Gooey Chocolate Chip Cookie and Velvet Popper for the lovely.

Took it to go, ate it in the amphitheater in back of LACMA. Notice the curvature on the spoon...

Illegally parked for a few minutes and snapped off a few shots in the LACMA light fixtures once the sun went down...

Finally, over to 3rd St Promenade for a bathroom break and some late night street performers. Definitely did more driving than I expected. Pasadena, to Alhambra, to Los Angeles, to Santa Monica. Oh dang. And my ipod ran out of batteries - always a good sign.
__________________________

Now, on to my epic day.

It all started with an ASB slow clap for Kelly's birthday. She always baked goodies for us ASB kids, but we could only give her a donut -__-.

Clap it up, blow out the candle, then off on our adventure!!

Hiked five miles, crossed a few rivers. Fun group of people to be with for the entire day. Funny hiking conversationalists.

Where were we going? This picture pretty much sums it up.

Ohhh Jacob.

Yes, we went bungee jumping. I jumped three times.
1. Forward jump, like Superman!
2. Elevator - just lightly step off the bridge and watch the people above get smaller and smaller. Almost smash into the bottom of the bridge. Repeat.
3. Forward lumberjack. Fall forward slowly, like a tree.

Definitely an interesting sensation. Falling, then floating, then falling again. I had such an adrenaline rush that I could barely breathe! It's impossible to describe the feeling of falling unhindered for 100 feet. Try it yourself.

Ah, we also dumped water on Kelly as she was hoisted back up (just because she was the birthday girl, of course).

Finished our jumps, headed down to the river, and rock jumped into the refreshingly freezing pools of water. Hauled ass, and finished the five mile hike out in no time at all.

We were hungry. We needed to end the day on a good note. So, I suggested Jay Bee's.

Everyone approved. Of course, it did take over an hour to get there, when it only should have taken 10 minutes. And we definitely almost crashed several times, and should have received a dozen tickets or so. Jacob's a crazy-ass driver (for better or worse).

We were full of barbecue and iced tea, and our stomachs hated us dearly. So, to cool our guts off, we headed to the ridiculously comfy couches of Yogurt Island.

Yay for Froyo!

Bungee Jumping. Ten-mile hike. Rock hopping, rock jumping, swimming in rivers. Slurpees, Sweet Tea, barbecue, froyo, ridiculous u-turns. Epic day, indeed.

Summer fun.

2009-06-21T23:32:00.000-07:00

Summer has started. Viva la Upper thigh tanning! :D Except, I did it too much and now I have upper thigh burns. Figures, right?

So Jordan has had a recent interest in long exposure shots, namely, nighttime long exposure shots. So we ventured out to Redondo sometime around 1 and set up our tripods. There was a surprisingly large number of people at Redondo in the dead hours of Tuesday morning. Hmm.

Ugly shops along the pier.

Pretty boats.

I'm not quite here, myself...

I didn't feel all that inspired taking those pictures. Damn.
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The rest of my week involved the following:
-Sleepovers in parks and 2 for 99 cent Jack-in-the-Box tacos. Anything is delicious at that hour of the night.

-Grad night. Hilarity ensued.

-Got hit in the head by a golf ball. ER trip. Three staples. Mom freaked out at all the blood. Ha.

-Lord of the Rings Extended Edition marathon with ASB kids and Nathan. Twelve hours of LoTR, terrific brownies, The Habit, Cider, and toasts to Legolas. Oh jeez.
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-Whitewater Rafting! I don't have pictures from the actual rafting yet, but enjoy these until then.

A four hour drive slowly grew to a drive of over six hours thanks to the 405. The girls sat in the back, listening to their ipods. Jordan drove. I slept in awkward positions.

Jordan took the picture of me sleeping. While driving. That can't be safe.

Both Jordan and I have a thing for rays poking out from inside clouds. I had my camera handy, so I popped out of the sunroof going 70 on the freeway and snapped a few shots.

The clouds were quite heavenly.

And once we got to camp, we made a campfire, told awkward stories, and took more long exposure shots. This one reminded me of those Hubble Telescope pictures of nebulas and whatnot, but clearly not as cool.

About the actual rafting portion...I can't even begin to describe how awesome it was. Great food, amazing company, lots of awkward turtle moments, and smashing against rocks. Ha. The stories sound better when told in person.

Now, on to the rest of summer.

My world's on fire.

2009-06-14T23:45:00.000-07:00

The last holdouts of my high school life are ablaze, slowly burning to the ground. Soon, only the softly glowing embers remain, refusing to die too easily. And yet, when only ashes remain, when all else is stripped away, I will simply sit down and light something anew.

Time to move on, dear friends.

woot.

2009-06-13T23:41:00.000-07:00

Baccalaureate was a success. I don't think I've ever had such a response to anything that I've done before. Definitely got a tan from all the basking.

Year's over. Slideshow's done. I officially have completed my purpose for this year. Time to find a new one in college.

And so, here's the end of another act of my life. I like this one. It ends with crowds cheering, people giving me hugs, and being showered with affection. Tis a good chapter.

On to the next one.

It is finished.

2009-06-11T22:19:00.000-07:00

My purpose for the year has come to a close. The Slideshow's ready to go for this Saturday, and all I have to do until then is wait. Wait and hope. Well considering that I've been working on it from 9 to 3 every single day, that would explain my absence from the blogging world. I never wrote anything about prom, and it feels a bit too long after the fact to recount my story.

So I shall say that prom was one of the greatest nights of my life. Waltzing was icing on the cake. Post prom was epic, but in a different way. Oh, teenagers.

But moving on. Another Disneyland picture thing! Finally something different. I've grown tired of shooting PoTC.

With my new wide angle lens, I can finally get the sweeping shot of the Court de Anges that I've been looking for.

Ride Thunder Mountain for the first time in a LONG time.

The best part was definitely when the ride broke down. I had an interesting conversation with the Cast Members about photography and roller coaster physics (unrelated to each other), plus I got to see the innards of the ride.

All this wide angle madness is quite amusing! I can take shots that I couldn't before for whatever reason...

Last thing: New fireworks show. Not a fan so far, after seeing the first third or so that they were testing. But then, Sabby brought up the good point that even Remember would seem a bit awkward with only the first part of it. The cool thing is definitely that Dumbo flies across the Skyway cable, a la Tinkerbell. The lighting effects around the castle are also pretty ace.

Blogging for the sake of blogging. Meh.

So...

2009-06-03T22:53:00.000-07:00

Why is it that people insist on boosting the contrast on their stupidass-drunken pictures to ridiculous levels?

Honest question, I swear.

"I love this shit!"

2009-06-02T00:01:00.000-07:00

Said the excited guy when given the free bottle of Black Mamba.

Anyways.

Friday:
Scott's birthday. BP Tournament. 3-1.

Off to Sabrina's last dance show of her life. Snapped a shot of a moment she shared with her dad.

In-and-Out! Froyo! My house! Fun night...
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Saturday:
Supposed to go check out some concert at the Promenade, but missed it by a few minutes. I blame myself, traffic, and the fact that if I drove any faster people might freak out and yell at me.

But at least we saw this.

Wandered around aimlessly for a bit, checking out stores and booths and whatnot. Decided to head over to Santa Monica Pier to ride the Ferris Wheel. I love my new ultrawide.

Messed around for a bit, then headed back home. On the way, we stopped by Honey's. I am but one step closer in my goal of showing good food to all of my friends.

Somehow we managed to get back in time for the others to run off and watch UP. Jealous. But not too much, because instead I went to spend time with the lovely.

Drove around aimlessly until we decided to go to Ragin' Cajun. Fried Alligator, Crawfish Etouffee, and fried Crawfish. Oh, and the sauces ;] In case you were wondering, this is my second dinner.

Froyo, Falling Slowly, late nights.
Happy four months, love.

And that concludes the noteworthy part of my weekend. Well, and the fact that I'm probably going to Cambodia.
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Monday: Random smattering of things. Jacob and Bucky decided to play Chubby Bunny before we threw out the marshmallows.

I'm not even sure if anyone really won. Probably the people who were cracking up watching, because the two of them DEFINITELY did not enjoy that experience...

And Mrs. Hildreth made the announcement that we had to clean off our desks by Monday to make room for next year's ASB. Ouch.

This has been my home, my little slice of the school, for the entire year. Here lie my holiday cards, picture frames, bottles of Sriracha and Hoisin Sauce, extra lens, and notebooks. My memories...little bits of my life from throughout the year. And now, it's time to take them away. Out with the old, in with the new. I'm the old. Out with me. It's a bit painful to say that, really. I've experienced so much on ASB, that it really pains me to give it up. C'est la vie.

Loose Ends

2009-05-27T23:02:00.000-07:00

ASB Banquet was today. I'm despairing a little bit, to be completely honest. I will miss every single member of ASB so much...they've all become my extended family. The ones who I can have inside jokes with, make fun of, steal food from, bitch about school, and count on when the going gets tough.

Tis sad.

Well, the banquet was touching, to say the least. It had such a feeling of finality to it, but thankfully I will see my ASB family for the next few weeks.

Oh, and I just found this picture particularly amusing. Rawr.

And we are definitely fat. After an all-you-can-eat banquet dinner, we went out for froyo. Success.

Gah, I shall miss these people dearly.

Hey.

2009-05-25T22:00:00.000-07:00

I think it's been established that I go to Disneyland too often.

So, just to drive the point home, I thought it'd be entertaining to put up Astro Blaster pictures, in chronological order. Clearly my scores have been getting worse. Part of me knows that it's mostly my fault, but the other part thinks that the ride is due for an extended refurbishment, seeing as my gun's been off the past several times I went.

Thankfully, Ashley's score has improved XD

1-29-09

4-12-09

5-25-09

I should go do something productive with my life.

Pooped

2009-05-24T22:42:00.000-07:00

My weekend's been moving at 1000 mph. Tired as hell. In for another long day tomorrow. I love three day weekends.

Saturday: Went to watch Star Trek for a second time with DK and Ashley. I get chills watching that movie. I would watch it again. And again. And again. I'm a geek.

Fooled around at Urban, bought a tie for $5, headed home to meet up with the college kids who are back from the East Coast. Unsurprisingly, they were sprawled out on the cough playing Resident Evil 5. Typical. Hopped in Scott's GT (I missed that car) and went on a food run to LA.

Wurstkuche!

Alligator, Pork, and Andouille Sausage Hot Dog with Sauerkraut and Grilled Onions. Kickass fries with good dipping sauces, and Eddie stares at his choice of strange artisan sodas (Elderflower? What?). Wurstkuche is much better for lunch than dinner.

Failed hipster-clothes shopping, then back to Torrance and Gable House. I bowled a 138, which I feel is a minor accomplishment. Mind you, I'm terrible at bowling.

And on to Jungle House. Heh. What a night. Heh Heh. Cheesy Double Beefies at awkward hours of the night are always good. Especially with the drunchies.
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Sunday...UCLA Jazz Reggae Festival! Freaking epic.

I mean...just look at how many people there were.

Ridiculous. Lots of lemonade, sweaty people, dancing, and bud. But then what else would you expect from a concert like that?

Spent the whole day with Nikki, Rina, and the sister, for better or for worse. Ha.

Now, listening to music for a good seven hours can lead to some boredom. Thankfully, Nikki had this awesome sticker. Check em out at you-are-beautiful.com

So, we handed it out to random people to take pictures with.

Actually, the people in the pictures aren't so random. But the random ones are a bit uninspired.

Waited around and listened to the opening acts, then ran up to the stage when the headliners had their turn. First up: De La Soul.

They had complete control of the crowd. Arms waving, bodies shaking, people screaming. It was out of control. Especially when they sang "Me Myself and I"...chaos ensued.

The entire day was a buildup to the final act - Erykah Badu.

I can't even fully explain how great she was. I can't do her performance justice. Trust me when I say that she was amazing. As soon as she cam onstage, it felt as if every camera and cameraphone in the world was trained on her.

She alone would have been worth the price of admission.

And now, I'm back here. Tired as hell. I'm in for a good night's rest. Well actually, I have to get up early for a day at Disneyland with a special someone :]

But I'll get some sleep eventually.

Down...Down...

2009-05-23T09:51:00.000-07:00

The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself falling down what seemed to be a very deep well.

-Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

I'm about to take the plunge. I'm chasing something elusive, and I don't know where it will take me. Does that bother me? Not in the least.

What a weekend.

2009-05-17T22:37:00.000-07:00

Last Friday before the rest of Senior Year... cruise control, yeah?

For some reason, Jordan decided to show up. Cute.

Anyways, one hell of a hectic Friday. Recycling, Boat Races, CIF, Duct taped, etc.

Took Kyle to Flossie's for some fried catfish, 3 sides, and sweet tea for $12.01. Definitely recession-friendly. Still liking Honey's better than Flossie's, but Flossie's is local. Bonus points for that.

Back to Max's after the game, blowing shit up, when his parents yell at us to come outside. What are we greeted with? The best TPing job that I've seen in some time.

Strangely enough, getting TPed got us off of our lazy asses. The night definitely improved after that.
______________________

Armed Forces Day Parade. Tagged along with the TYC Kids and got to go to a snazzy luncheon with the veterans. Twas interesting and humbling to be surrounded by Medal of Honor recipients, admirals, and generals. These are people who did something with their lives. Countless Thanks to all of the men and women fighting for our country.

The parade itself was quite amusing. We received some great visors and mini American flags. Totally looked like tourists...

While sitting in the stands, I witnessed one of several surreal moments that I would see that day. Two soldiers who fought during World War II, one from the illustrious Big Red One. Both were thanking each other endlessly for helping the others' infantry divisions during the Pacific Theater. I got chills up and down my spine listening to them talk with such sincerity and gratitude. That's brotherhood.

And now, the parade. F/A-18 flybys, Abrams, Humvees, Tuskegee Airmen, and lots of brass.

on a sidenote, I just happened to sit next to the wife of some Rear Admiral or something like that. Interesting conversations abounded.

Then rushed over to Ashley's choir concert. You sang wonderfully, love.

In other news, we finally managed to clear out my stock. Getting some new goods for the summer :D
_______________________

And on to Sunday...funeral time.

Twas my cousin's grandfather's funeral. He was 89 at the time of passing, so it was a bit expected, but still difficult nonetheless. I don't have much to say about it.

He did, however, make it a point that the funeral was not to be somber or mournful. There was little crying or wailing. My funeral will be similar. Something festive and vibrant, to celebrate my life rather than to mourn for my death. I don't want people to have to cry on my behalf.

And that, my dears, is the conclusion to a hectic weekend.

끝

2009-05-14T22:52:00.000-07:00

Finally done with APs, pretty much the last hurdle of Senior Year. Now, I can spend the rest of my weeks in a complete daze. Lovely.

Oh, but before I forget, a friend mentioned that I never took a picture of In-and-Out. So here ya go, to show off to all your Boston buddies.

Went out to Santa Monica to pick up a tux for prom. Fail. But I did get to go to Anisette Brasserie again! Ah, definitely one of my favorite restaurants. The tarnished mirrors, dim lighting, wrought-iron spiral staircase, wall of wine bottles...the place has a sort of old world charm to it.

Excuse the triptych. I'm playing around with different presentation techniques to compensate for my sub par photography. It also saves me from posting 10 pictures of the glassware from the restaurant.

Ate some delicious Pâté Maison - a foie gras and duck liver parfait with a thin layer of berry preserve served in a chilled jar, with sliced toasted baguette and miniature pickles on the side. Tastes great spread on the bread or alone; the flavor is buttery and a little sour, with a creamy texture that goes down great with some sparkling water.

Also had a chilled seafood platter with assorted oysters (har har), jumbo shrimp, and snow crab salad served with cocktail sauce and some kind of vinaigrette. Tasty.

Finally, washed it all down with some espresso. What a meal.

I must say that I am quite satisfied with this post.

Korean BBQ, please

2009-05-11T22:57:00.000-07:00

Manna, an eat-until-you-explode Korean BBQ restaurant out in LA. For $16.99, you get an unlimited supply of assorted meats, plus banchan, jigae, and lots of other goodies. They also have some "specialty" lemon and pineapple soju, which sounded interesting enough. Seemed that a lot of people around me were ordering them.

The place is pretty much under a tent in a parking lot. Not much of an ambiance, but who cares? The beef is tasty, the kimchi pungent, and the service quick. I must say, I am quite happy with this place.

Cup of Tea

2009-05-10T22:05:00.000-07:00

My favorite pictures are mostly from my first few months of photography. Why is that? It seems that when I first started, all that existed was my own interpretation of the world in my mind, so it was easy for me to express my vision through pictures. However, as I saw more peoples' photography, looked at articles online, and whatever, I have generated a preconceived notion of what dictates a "good" photograph. I no longer have my vision, but an amalgamation of others'. I have lost my sense of personality and originality that I feel used to manifest itself in my pictures. Now, I'm stuck taking pictures that might be technically decent, but lack any character. Damn it all.

After the slideshow, I'm taking myself to square one.

Inspire me.

Things are heating up

2009-05-09T22:55:00.000-07:00

Quite literally. Friday was definitely shorts weather.

Talked to the other Photo kids for the first time in a while...without a doubt worth sticking around for. What a great group of kids... I should've hung around in Shea's more often. We all had our cameras, so of course we took pictures of each other taking pictures. I mean, what else would we do with our cameras?

Then over to Fantastic Cafe with Ray, after a failed burger excursion. Ate some decent, reasonably-priced diner food instead. Yum. Chili burger with fries.

Some fun with some cool kids, dancing around, ridiculous jerking, and some Chocolate Teddy Grams.

Saturday: ASB stuff! Turns out that neither Kelly nor Tori had eaten a Locomoco before, so I had to show them.

Seriously, what have they been missing this whole time?!

Got kicked out of Ashley's house -__-

STAR TREK WAS AWESOME. I never watched the show, but I still found the movie quite exciting. That's all I have to say about that.

And an early Mother's Day dinner. Scallop-shrimp-pepper kebabs on the grill...nicely seasoned, piping hot, and overall delicious.

Fresh King Crab legs, red wine, Guinness, and an awkward fork jutting into my frame.

Very very very tasty. My stomach was happy. And it's always nice to spend time with family, yeah?

The way to a man's heart

2009-05-06T22:25:00.000-07:00

is through his stomach. Well it might not be the only way, but it's probably my favorite.

So as I was doing my post-AP test loafing, I heard my doorbell ring. Upon answering it, I see Ashley and Tree standing there with a tray full of assorted sugary sweets to fatten me up :D

Thanks love (and Tree) for contributing to my unhealthy tendencies.

My heart just stopped.

2009-05-04T23:02:00.000-07:00

I swear, I'm going to die from barbecue overdose. From Saturday to Saturday, I went to Jay Bee's four times. Four. Freaking. Times. I just can't get enough of it. The melt-in-your-mouth pulled pork, smokey brisket, rib-sticking mac-and-cheese, and sweet corn bread are all so ridiculously delicious that I find myself craving it at every possible moment! What the hell am I supposed to do with myself?!

Well, since nothing else interesting has happened in my life these past few days, here are the pictures from my various barbecue excursions.

Pulled Pork (they call it pork shoulder) sandwich, extra sauce, on a bun with a bed of coleslaw.

Meat Combo: BBQ Beef (brisket) and Pork Shoulder (pulled pork)

Large order of Pork Shoulder. This one did me in with a piece of cornbread. All I needed was some Nehi Grape Soda or Sweet Tea. That's one complaint I have...their drink selection is sorely lacking. But if anything, it brings the focus back to the barbecue.

In other news, I had the case of the drunchies since Friday. I craved fried chicken! So after getting out of school ridiculously early (thanks to the APs), Curstina, Sarah, and I made a food run out to Culver City. Where did we go? Honey's Kettle Fried Chicken, of course.

Taster's Deluxe Combo with chicken and fried catfish, a delicious biscuit that was simply orgasmic when dipped in honey, and some lovely fries that also went great with honey, tasting somewhat like a Korean treat that I love to eat. As usual, Honey's thick, crunchy, salty fried skin didn't let me down one bit. That's the way to do it.

Really, all I've been doing for the past week is eating. I better go make my life more exciting somehow.

Hello, friends!

2009-04-26T23:05:00.000-07:00

Putting off studying for Gov and Econ because I'm lazy like that. So instead, I shall do these survey things (which prove that the blogging world isn't quite dead yet)

1. I'll respond with something random about you.
2. I'll tell you which song or movie you remind me of.
3. I'll pick a flavor of jello you would be.
4. I'll say something that only makes sense to you and me.
5. I'll tell you my first memory of you.
6. I'll tell you what animal you remind me of.
7. I'll ask you something I've always wondered about you.
8. I'll tell you my favorite thing about you.
9. I'll tell you my least favorite thing about you.

Emilaaaaaaaaay!
1. You occasionally sound like a five-year-old XD
2. 1000 Times a Day, because I hear it every time I'm in your car
3. You seem very...watermelon-like.
4. Owl necklace :D
5. You came up to me in Photo and were all like "I hear you're really smart" or something like that. Twas quite random.
6. a chipmunk!
7. Where do you go when you disappear on the weekends?
8. You have very interesting facial expressions and balance out everyone else's irrationality
9. You don't like to do things without a reason, which tends to be half the fun of things :[

Hello love
1. You're better than me at flipping pancakes and other pancake-like foods
2. Ratatouille, Chicago, Watchmen, Forever :]
3. Oh! Chocolate! Like...chocolate pudding! Like the awesome dirt cups we ate in Mueller's! :D
4. One of us always ends up falling off of the seat...
5. You smiled a lot during dance shows, and sprayed my hair before class comp!
6. A blue-footed boobie with cheeks of steel. Which cheeks..?
7. What goes on in your head when you laugh randomly?
8. You're mine and I'm yours
9. You get mad at me when I bite your shoulder >_<

Tree!
1. Joon will take pictures with me but not with you XD
2. Star Wars :DDDD
3. Watery. Lime. Jello.
4. We were pathetic and rejected, so we ate mochi.
5. You and Sabrina were those cool girls that liked Star Wars. Oh! And I remember you knew who I was when I visited TFPC and you were passing out some paper thing at the door.
6. Treeeeeeeeeeee. A talking tree.
7. What do you do when I'm knocked out on your couch?
8. You're quite an awesome person
9. You get scared at my eye-opened sleepiness.

Anti-Sadies

2009-04-25T10:24:00.000-07:00

Sadies was cancelled, so we had our own festivities.

They involved food.

Gaja has now been recommended to me on numerous occasions, so I made it a point to check it out. I'm glad that I did.

I satisfied my takoyaki craving yet again, although these weren't quite as good as the ones at the Bunka Sai.

They did have lots of Sriracha sauce on them, though. Yum. Although, the Sriracha did tend to overpower the flavor of the octopus inside. Perhaps it would have been better without the sauce. Gaja also sells a mochi and cheese takoyaki, which I'm a bit wary to try.

Next up, the make-your-own okonomiyaki! Got the "Modern Mix," which had squid, octopus, pork, yakisoba noodles, and shrimp. We failed somewhat at flipping the monstrous thing, but it still tasted delicious so no worries there. Definitely need to work on our technique, though.

In terms of taste, I have nothing but good things to say about the okonomiyaki. The ingredients were of relatively high quality. The sauces were top-notch, and the service was pretty friendly.

Good experience.

Then, on to watching Chicago and other fun things. Ha! who needs Sadies when you get to spend time with an awesome person?

Jeepers Creepers

2009-04-23T23:37:00.000-07:00

Haven't had a chance to shoot for fun this week. Been out taking slideshow pictures for 3+ hours a day, creeping on those last kids that I've somehow failed to take pictures of throughout the year. Fun. But it'll amount to something in the end - something great. At least that's what I'm hoping.

This hopefully explains my lack of random pictures.

It seems that the rest of my blogging world has been pretty quite lately. So I guess I'll throw this survey out there for anyone who isn't quite dead yet.

If you comment with your name:

1. I'll respond with something random about you.
2. I'll tell you which song or movie you remind me of.
3. I'll pick a flavor of jello you would be.
4. I'll say something that only makes sense to you and me.
5. I'll tell you my first memory of you.
6. I'll tell you what animal you remind me of.
7. I'll ask you something I've always wondered about you.
8. I'll tell you my favorite thing about you.
9. I'll tell you my least favorite thing about you.

Cheers.

Round objects

2009-04-19T22:14:00.000-07:00

To sum up my Saturday:

Bunka Sai with Teresa, who stuck around for my naginata demo.

Satisfied my takoyaki craving :D

Fish flakes?

Ashley came by, got some dango. Three for $1!

Rushed to get home, packed, and off to Pomona! They have a dining hall that reminds me of Hogwarts.

Had an awesome host with a hilarious roommate. Wizard staffing, getting my revenge on CMC, inflatable pirate ships, and oh so much more. Oh man, what a night.

I'm definitely leaning towards Pomona over Berkeley.

Sage Hens!

2009-04-18T20:48:00.000-07:00

So I'm in Pomona right now.

I'm definitely enjoying it here...

Lazy day

2009-04-13T21:16:00.000-07:00

Boring Monday. First day back from break. Only thing to redeem it was the surprise that was left for me in ASB :]

I now have a replenished popcorn stash. And some odd Danish chocolate with a creepy kid on the box.

I mean, seriously. That kid was staring at me the whole time. What the crap. But it tasted good, so no worries.

Nothing to do after school, so headed over to Tree's to see her cool armor ring thing. Punch someone in the face with that hunk of metal. Loafed, watched Food Network, Tree made food :D

Mmmm Jajaroni. I dislike writing out Korean in English.

And mi madre surprised me with this! Turns out that Costco has six packs of em for like...six dollars. Thank you, Costco.

Once again, my entire blog post revolves around food items. Lovely.

Hurry Back. Hurry Baaaack.

2009-04-12T22:07:00.000-07:00

Saturday. What a fun day. Spent 3 hours in the airport waiting for my flight, because my cousin had to drop me off and go do stuff. Thankfully, I had my uber Choco Pie s-more thingy to keep me company :D

Good stuff, man.

Got bored on the flight home, but luckily I had a window seat.

The girl next to me probably thought I was crazy.

Oh, and I would like to take this time to mention that Virgin America is the awesomest airline ever. Trippy lighting, trance music, individual media screens, power outlets, and USB ports. Leather seats. Sarcastic safety videos. Good for young ones.

Walked down the hallway and noticed the reflection in the glossy floor. Stopped to take a picture.

I have a thing for hallway shots.

(This would be the picture Tree mentioned in her blog yesterday...)

Went through the revolving door. Was met with a lovely surprise :] Best. Dance Asking. Ever. Teeheehee

Yes.

Madre took me, Ashley, and Tree out to lunch at Lucille's.

Tis the only chain restaurant I don't mind going to. The feast lasted through dinner too, when we watched Slumdog.

Movies, food, more food, jacuzzi, late nights, awkward laughs ;]
________________________

Sunday. Happy Easter!

Cambodia Mission Trip informational meeting. Cambodia this summer? Twelve days. Sounds exciting. Lots of hard work. I'm down. Better than sitting on my lazy ass all summer.

Dinner with the fambam.

Mmmm Korean BBQ.

Now, back to Lit. Goodbye Spring Break. It's been spectacular.

If you're going to San...Francisco.

2009-04-11T00:09:00.000-07:00

Berkeley's a fun little college town. Lots of yoga studios, organic food places, etc. Reeks of down-to-earth hippie goodness. Quite fun.

Oh yeah, forgot to mention that I went up there with my cousin Daniel to visit UC Berkeley.

I think it was...Emilay's cousin that mentioned Zachary's Pizza? Hm...it was recommended to me by someone. But regardless, Zachary's kicks ass. Thin crust pizza with Canadian Bacon, Jalapeno, and Sausage. The crust was crispy with a thin layer of cornmeal on the bottom. The sauce was tangy and thick with chunks of stewed red goodness. The sausage and bacon was hidden underneath the cheese, which prevented the oils from being cooked off, thus locking in an inordinate amount of flavor. Of course, this made the pizza quite liquidy, but didn't do enough to detract from my enjoying the pizza. Great stuff.

Walked around Berkeley for a few hours. Have to take time to make my college decision now.

Back over to San Francisco. Hadn't been there since elementary school, so I went around and did all of the touristy things. Like...the one and only Golden Gate Bridge. Along with the other 1000000000 asian tourists with dslrs, shooting away at the landmark.

Next, up and down over steep streets and confusing roads to Lombard Street, the curviest street in the world. Oh man, that was fun to drive down. Saw some guy take it down at 40 mph just for fun. Smart move, dude.

There was an extremely long line to get on the street. Seriously, it was like waiting in line for a ride at Disneyland. I feel for the people who actually live on the street. What a pain, hearing the screeching of car brakes all day.

Drove up another steep incline to Telegraph Hill, where I followed a beautiful little trail to reach the top.

Waiting for me was Coit Tower, where you can take an elevator up and see the entire San Francisco Bay.

So Coit was the name of some rich socialite lady. She was in love with San Fran, so bequeathed a third of her estate to arbitrarily beautify the city. It was decided to use the funds for a tower. Huh.

And on to more touristy things. Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39. Lots of seafood, the Boudin Bakery (which I had just seen a mockup of at DCA XD ), Bushman, and interesting characters. Saw an old man in a three-piece suit with a handlebar mustache and pocketwatch, but didn't manage to get a shot. Lame.

Pier 39, where tourists buy bread bowls and cheap souvenirs. Cool.

There was an Asian saturation of 8 people per square yard. Gah!

Went to Chowders for dinner. Good choice.

How about...a steaming bread bowl filled with clam chowder? What about clam chowder chock full of seafood, celery, potato, and bacon?! The bowl was almost completely carved out. More soup, less bread. Crispy outside. Chewy inside. Which is why I do not regret getting the Steak Gumbo at Disneyland.

Also got some fish and chips, but they paled in comparison to the clam chowder. Poor things, stuck in the shadow of some great San Fran goodness.

Last picture of the day. I swear. I was looking out the window on the lower level of the Bay Bridge right after sunset. The sky was completely blue - no clouds or anything. I felt like I was looking at a fish tank. Driving through water. I was tripping out, man.

Totally blew my mind.

It was great visiting SF after all these years. Definitely enjoyed myself. It's a shame we didn't pull of a NorCal road trip this Spring Break. Oh well. Good night, all.

Another day of Disney

2009-04-10T23:59:00.000-07:00

Disneyland Thursday. Complete failure of a day in terms of getting things done. But it's alright. We have annual passes.

Got to Disneyland. Rode small world. Went to DCA. Freaking starving. Waited in a ridiculously slow-moving line for a hot dog. Now, that was a surprisingly decent hot dog. A spicy, peppery sausage (bit on the dry side) covered in barbecue sauce-drenched onions. The onions were pretty much tasteless, but they served to hold in the barbecue sauce and give the hot dog some texture.

Seriously running out of things to do. Mikie asked Crush about the economy. Turns out the value of the sand dollar's doing pretty well despite the economic downturn.

Watched Aladdin, which is still a favorite of mine.

I can show you the world
shining, shimmering, splendid

Waited for Ashley to finally arrive. Epic running hug :] I missed her, but now I don't have to anymore.

Accomplished little else. We were hungry. Royal St. Veranda for bread bowl goodness!

My usual, the Steak Gumbo. I'm glad I didn't get the clam chowder, for reasons which will be obvious soon enough.

We were already in New Orleans Square, so we headed over to The French Market to grab a chocolate cake. Devoured that thing. Poor cake didn't even have a fighting chance. Oh man, I love that cake. Luuuurv it.

3 out of 4 of my Disneyland pictures for the day are of food. Just goes to show what we accomplished. Nice.

If you're going to San...Diego.

2009-04-08T08:55:00.000-07:00

A whole day in San Diego with three awesome kids. BMW Convertible. Senior Year. Hell yeah.

And the thing that made our lives so much easier.

But first, here's a picture of a cloud that I took while Sabrina and I cloudwatched in the backseat :D

It's a whale!

Went to UCSD, but failed to recognize anyone there. Drove over to La Jolla Cove, with lots of men in speedos, pelicans, and dramatic wave-crashing-on-rocks action. La Jolla is quite the pretty little beach town, really...

Saw the Old Man and the Sea.

Got a text from my sister. SHE GOT INTO A PROGRAM AT OXFORD. HOLYCRAPTHATSFREAKINGAWESOMEOMGAAAAAAAHH. Pretty exciting.

Went over to Balboa Park with its 1000 museums. But we were there for one reason: The Museum of Photographic Arts. Interesting. Some pictures made me sit and wonder, while others looked like glorified myspace pictures. The Lou Stoumen and Edward Steichen exhibits were particularly powerful. Sadly, no pictures of the pictures.

Took a picture with this weird ceramic tile-covered lizard thing...what? No idea. But it was in front of a museum, if that helps at all.

Went on an adventure to through the jungle to find the car! Spoke of Pokemon and things. You know, those things that high school seniors talk about. We're going on a bear hunt!

We were freaking starving at that point, so onwards to Phil's BBQ! Cheap, delicious pork shoulder sandwich. Coleslaw. Ridiculous amount of fries. Ice cold Coke. Really really really good server. What's there not to like? Well, except for the fact that the entire parking lot smells of hickory smoke. What a tease.

Drove up to Point Loma lighthouse and the Cabrillo monument, which gave us a nice view of San Diego and the surrounding area. The lighthouse itself was quite interesting, with mock ups of the rooms that the families lived in at the lighthouse. Oh man, that seashell frame from hell. Godforsaken handicrafts...

Yay for the lighthouse's spiral staircase! I'm sure Tree and Sabby will have the same spiral picture, so here's a little bit of a different one.

Jeff and I contemplated suicide by cliffjumping. Jeff actually did it, sort of. Scared the shit out of Tree. Pretty funny.

Headed on over to Extraordinary Desserts, where Andrea took me last time I visited SD.

The Viking. Layers of chocolate cake, mousse, creme broulee, crushed pralines, and whatever other chocolate concoctions they can think of. I liked my old picture of it better, but here's a closeup of the layers.

And some Creme Brulee with delicious strawberry on top :D Deeelicious.

The flower petals and gold foil were definitely unnecessary though. Not a big fan of overdone decorations. It makes it seem like they're compensating for lackluster food. Which in this case, they weren't. But it sure seemed like it.

Here's a link to my old picture of it.

Now, Jeff decided to eat the ball of chocolate frosting on top of the Viking. Not gonna lie...that was pretty disgusting.

So to wash it all down, we went back to the car and drank from Jeff's random 3-liter water bottle. It now tastes strangely of chocolate -__-

Headed on over to Pacific Beach, where the pier is a privately owned extension of a hotel. What the crap?!

The sun began to set, so we sped on over to Sunset Cliffs. What an appropriate name. Barely made it in time, jumped out of the car, and ran to the edge of the cliffs to snap off a few shots. San Diego has many cliffs...

Sadly, some cloud cover blocked the majority of the sunset. My consolation prize was a series of long exposure shots of the surrounding rocks.

At first I was mad at the blur, but looking at it now, it makes it look like an Impressionist painting or something. At least to me.

Made one last stop at UCSD to visit Grace Mak. She took us to Muir's cafe and treated us to some food. Swiper no swiping! Aww man!

Got a chocolate shake. Actually, we all got some kind of smoothie-drink thing.
Jeff: "I don't know about your guys' smoothies, but mine is really really good"
XD

Said our goodbyes, and we were off to rush Sabby home.

The long road back to Torrance.

Thanks to Jeff for driving. Thanks to all three of em for being such awesome daytripping buddies.

I love Spring Break.

Sheisty Kids

2009-04-07T00:52:00.000-07:00

Spent a very economical day in Santa Monica and LA. Don't feel like writing about details. Posting pictures to prevent a photo pileup after San Diego adventuring tomorrow.

3rd Street. Pier. Beach. Lady Bugs. Refer to other's blogs for details.

Bought a light gray suit from H&M for Prom Court and probably grad. That's exciting. Now I need to go get it tailored.

LACMA for free. The kind of place that makes you tilt your head to the right and go "huh?"

I mean, seriously. What the hell is this?

A room full of newspaper clippings, with papier mache stuck on metal rods. I'm supposed to take said rods into this room of newspaper and "interact" with the art. I'm sorry, but I fail to see the significance. Maybe my art muscles need exercising or something. I felt this way for most of the exhibit.

But hey, I still really enjoy being at LACMA. Still hasn't gotten old. And that Japanese pavilion was quite interesting.

Drove over to Little Ethiopia. Rosalind's, baby. Stare in awe at this ridiculous platter of stewed beef, chicken, and lamb on a bed of spongy injera, with a boiled egg in the middle for good measure. Fed six people for $11 each in LA. How's that for frugal? And not just cheap food. Good, healthy, wholesome, flavorful Ethiopian fare. Delicious.

It's like an explosion of flavor in my mouth!

That's what she said. Ohhh jeez.

Over to Milk, where I usually end up going after visiting Museum Row.

The Brownie, in all of it's glory. I've taken several pictures of this now, and I'm still amazed at its awesomeness. A warm, chewy brownie sets the foundation for scoops of chocolate and vanilla ice cream, hot fudge, whipped cream, and nuts on top. As basic as brownie sundaes come, but executed so much better. Take something that everyone's seen, but make it better without changing it too much. That's skill, right there.

Once again, nothing but vignettes. Lacked the photos to make this a coherent story. Now I'm off to bed to wake up early for San Diego. Welcome to my Spring Break.

To all that come to this happy place...welcome.

2009-04-05T23:24:00.000-07:00

Day 2 of Spring Break. Disneyland with my dongseng.

Started off the day with a meat pie from Mojo Pies and Coffee. Ground steak with bacon, egg, and cheese, all in a flaky pie crust. Yum.

Aaand over to Disneyland. It was already hot by the time we got there, so we got some Dole Whips. Although I've eaten a good number of them, this is the first decent pictures I've taken of one.

Some other stuff happened. Rode Pirates with the intention of getting some shots that didn't completely suck ass. Succeeded ,somewhat.

Can you see Jack?

He's camouflaged.

Drink up me hearties, yo ho.

I HATE HATE HATE taking pictures in the Haunted Mansion. It's a complete nightmare. The only shot I got worth showing the world is one of Constance, the black widow bride lady person thing.

As long as we both shall live...

We were lucky enough to sit around for a while to listen to Earnie, the resident blues guitarist. This guy's been playing at Disneyland since it opened (or close enough. That's over 50 years).

I could just sit and listen to him all day. Seriously. It's soothing.

Lunch at Cafe Orleans. Pommes Frites, which didn't have all of the herb-goodness that used to come piled on top of it.

Still decently tasty, though.

Aaaand my favoritest sandwich in the whole world: a Disneyland Montecristo.

I live to eat these things. It is my purpose in life.

Drawn to Animation: Grumpy.

Second time around, got to draw Jack Skellington! That's exciting :D

Dinner: Steak Gumbo!

Yum. Bread bowl.

And the only usable picture I have ever taken on Indy.

That ride is actually worse than the Haunted Mansion. You need ridiculously fast shutter speeds to even freeze anything with the motion of the damn jeep.

Of course, other things happened throughout the day. I just don't feel like writing about them.

And pet peeve: When people use flash in dark rides. NO FLASH PICTURES PLEASE. Thank you.

Good times.

2009-04-04T23:58:00.000-07:00

Before I write about the first day of Spring Break, I would like to mention that Jasmin is a ridiculously good baker.

That is all.
____________________

So Friday. Lip Sync. Seniors won, but I wasn't completely blown away. Impressed, but not as much as I have been in previous years.

Went out to dinner with Sarah and Kyle. Ragin' Cajun, man. The restaurant that got me started on this journey of eating everything possible. It honestly isn't as good as I remember. Not sure if that has to do with the fact that I know more about what I'm eating, or the quality has simply declined. Either way, it's a fun little beach restaurant that has a special place in my memory.

Fried Seafood Platter. Decent catfish and shrimp. Crawfish had a strange bitter aftertaste to it. Hm.

Red Beans and Rice with Andouille sausage and coleslaw. Even more goodness.

Kicked off Spring Break with some friends, knocked out hard.
______________________

Beach with the cool kids on Saturday!

Sabby, Tree, and Emilay will all write about the events of the day, so here are the pictures to go along with it.

Beach Twister! Hehe I won both games. Made things extremely awkward for people ;D

Super Delicious Yummy Awesome 3/$5 Churro run!

Aaaand Pterodactyl! Sabby and Tree played it to a stalemate. They know each other too well.

I'm tired as hell and don't want to write too much. I'm doing this mostly so I don't have a massive pileup of pictures in the next few days.

Good night.

Awkward Bulge.

2009-04-01T22:27:00.000-07:00

DEFINITELY is not a velcro bulge.

Well Faculty Wrestling was quite interesting. Enjoyed the MMA guys. Both had that really awesome crescent-roundhouse kick that I love to do. Except their kicks probably hit 10x harder than mine. Justin's display of homoerotic man-groping was also quite...interesting. Just kidding. It's wrestling.

Remember kids, it's only gay if you make eye contact.

I'm sorry, this picture is way out of context. The guy in the white just escaped a hold and is running off. But it sure doesn't look that way...

That made for a good laugh.
_______________________

The most important part of my day would definitely be Jay Bee's Barbecue out in Gardena/Carson/somewhere around there. It is THE BEST barbecue I've had in Southern California. It looks nothing like a barbecue joint, but I could give a rat's ass after trying out the food there. Just don't go for the world class service or sophisticated atmosphere. You'll be sitting on picnic benches, enjoying well-cooked meat with other barbecue lovers.

Oh, and Guy Fieri approves. That's a definite plus in my book.

The brisket is exactly how I've been looking for - moist, juicy, dowsed in tangy barbecue sauce, with globs of melting fat chunks and nice hickory-smoked color. The rib tips were quite delicious also. I hear the pork shoulder is excellent, but I've yet to try it.

The portions are ridiculously generous, and the price surpringly low. I was quite satisfied. I definitely got more than my money's worth.

And the mac and cheese was worth writing about separately. With every bite, I pulled out long strings of melted cheese that stretched as I moved the tasty sidedish closer to my mouth.

Every. Single. Bite. Stretchy melty cheese. I swear, this thing could block a leaky pipe, it was so hearty.

I have found my new go-to place for some kickass barbecue. Oh baby, I think I'm in love.

Recap

2009-03-31T22:26:00.000-07:00

Oh, how wonderful of a day yesterday was. Far better than the one I am stuck in right now.

Went on a failed meat pie run with Ashley and Tree...ended up at my favorite coffee where Nikki used to work. But then, I hate coffee. I go for the chocolate chip cookies.

Catalina Coffee Company exudes vintage touches. Worn shelves, battered chairs, and tacky lamps that illuminate me cookies :]

Their giant chessboard is also a thing of great amusement. I could shoot that thing for a project time and time again.

Turns out Tree touches her nose when she thinks.

Now, there was a tiny little white bishop that I assume was a stand-in for a bigger guy. I made it a point to kill him early on in each game >:]

Back to Ashley's to grub!

Hello Mr. Hummingbird. I am sorry that I am ridiculously large compared to you. But you're still awesome!

And on to the food. $1 Spider Man Easy Mac?! Amazing!

And what were supposed to be the greatest cookies ever or whatever. They lacked chocolate chips, but they were still really tasty. And I got some to go :]

It's been a great two months.
________________________________

On to today. Rejection letters. Mochi and Bob Marley. Moral support from my one and only that I definitely appreciated.

But screw it. By this time Friday, it will be a thing of the past. And guess what?

I'm going to Disney World for ridiculously cheap. Finally booked the hotels and flight.

So I still have plenty to look forward to. Oh baby.

Equipment gripes.

2009-03-29T00:49:00.000-07:00

I hate equipment failures. I've been having focusing issues with my camera lately. Only problem is, I can't figure out if it's the lens or the body. But I have to zoom in, focus, zoom out, then recompose my shot. Otherwise, the thing tends to backfocus.

Anyways, the Kogi truck came out to Torrance today. Since when did people call Torrance "T-town?" Weird. Seems to be a college kid thing. Anyways, after Ashley sent a timely text letting me know how to get there, Tree and I arrived to see a line already forming. Considering the truck had yet to arrive, I wasn't quite sure how people knew where to line up. Maybe they just did, and the trucks followed the people. That would definitely make sense.

Well, considering Ashley was the one who introduced me to the Truck, it's about time she got to try it! >_<
I'm quite certain that she enjoyed it thoroughly :]

Aaaand the funny Korean guy taking orders wrote Tree's name in quite an interesting way. No extra vowels or irrelevant letters. I wish all words were spelled with this sense of efficiency XD

On to the fruits of our labor: Kalbi, Spicy Pork, and Tofu tacos. Spicy Pork Burrito. Did a kogi dance and sang Jizzed in My Pants with DK. Such an appropriate song for the orgasmic Korean/Mexican hybrid.

As more and more people catch on to the Kogi Truck, I find that it's time to move on to something else. Possibly some other gastronomical adventure awaits me if Kogi Truck is becoming normal fare. But I still love it.

Of course, other stuff happened today, like going to watch Nationals! Congrats to Sabrina, Saaya, and the rest of Advance Dance for kicking ass and taking names. Those girls are ridiculously amazing. But Sabrina will probably have full details of their most recent awards, and someone else will recount the adventure. I leave those things to my friends.

Today

2009-03-28T00:21:00.000-07:00

was a very exciting day.

That is all.

Beaching it.

2009-03-25T20:41:00.000-07:00

I believe that I must become more critical of the pictures that I post from now on. As I look back, there's too much crap. At this point, however, I don't want to delete the pictures because then I'd be left with an awkward white box saying that the picture in question is temporarily unavailable. A bunch of empty white boxes would just be annoyingly unsightly.

But here's something to start off my photographic crucible.

So the yearbook people (well, mostly Tamara) decided to stick me in their Senior Ad even though I'm kind of a lurker that hangs around yearbook because I have nothing better to do. Well I do, but I don't do it. Anyways, we took lots of group pictures, lots of awkward shots, and some sort of trapeze human-sculpture bit that involved Canaan and David being crushed by Alex, Jeph, and me.

The girls went off to take their pictures, and the guys saw an abundance of kelp and jellyfish bits. Jeph decided to take one for a walk. Those things need exercise, ya know.

This picture makes me laugh.

And to add to my to-do list: throw Ashley into the ocean.

I'm liking the short story thing better than recounting my whole entire day. After all, most of what I do is pretty mundane and unmemorable. Might as well cut the crap and highlight the things I find most interesting.

Cheers.

Decency

2009-03-23T21:37:00.000-07:00

So Sunday, I got a random call asking if I wanted to go out to dinner. I thought Flossie's might be fun to check out, on a recommendation from the same person that has told be about Slavko's, Pacific Dining Car, and others. I can say with confidence that I was utterly stuffed after that meal.

So here's how it works at Flossie's. You walk into a tiny little restaurant with blacked out windows that seems like a super-condensed Lucille's on the inside. For a set price, you get your chicken or catfish, 3 sides, drink, and a dessert. I got fried chicken, corn pudding (odd), mac and cheese (very thick and hearty), some random other crap, bread pudding, and cornbread (a bit tasteless). My favorite thing: they only had lemonade, iced tea, and Kool-aid for drinks. No soda, no nothing. How kickass is that?!

I still feel that Honey's is better. Flossie's reminded me too much of KFC, with a very grainy batter but still delicious. The amount of food given was also probably enough to feed two people on a bad day, or one hungry person on a good day. Not a particular favorite of mine, but it's local. Meh.

Sooo, now that college acceptances are out, it's time for College Sweaters!

Just kidding. Sabrina had this before she got into UCLA...but now it has more significance methinks. Notice the awesome nails.

We were a good Congress :D

Aaaand the Tan Man's legal! So what else could we do but celebrate his birthday with Kelly's ASB cupcakes..?

And another creepy-ass thing in ASB...a faceless doll with Jesus in it. Huh..?

This was pointless. I just found it amusing.

And my face is no longer naked! Goodbye indecency! Headed out to K-town to get my Wayfarers refitted, because I was stupid enough to step on them and twist the frames. Afterward, I went to some Chinese restaurant in the Galleria. I hate restuarants with untranslatable names. Mandarin Cafe, perhaps?

I also hate foods that don't have good-sounding English equivalents.

Ja...ja...myun? Something like that. I should just type it in Korean.

I think that most of my posts lack a coherent train of thought. They're more of compilations of random vignettes from my day. Well, hope that's bearable for those out there who actually read this.

Work It

2009-03-21T23:10:00.000-07:00

Oh man...Attic Prom Fashion Show. Had to wake up waaay too early for that crap. But whatever. It was fun and ended up being worth it for the most part.

I wasn't really happy with the tux that I got. Shirt sleeves were short, jacket was a bit big, etc. Well, whatever. It was still fun.

As we walked onto the runway, women swooned, men howled, and the world bowed at our feet. Just kidding. We strutted out stuff, spun around, stripped off the jackets, twirled em in the air, and went on with our lives. Haha Ray got quite the applause for his little spontaneous dancing bit.

Left the Fashion Show and headed over to Farmers Market. Sadly, my favorite barbecue people were nowhere to be seen. Made me quite sad. I had to deal with my consolation prize, a bacon-wrapped hot dog with grilled onion.

Curtina and I then proceeded to interrogate Terry on all matters school- and college-related. We're mean.

Read Frankenstein and fell in love with the language used. Napped, then met Ashley for dinner at By Brazil. Their food is currently 30% off. Brazilian BBQ dinner for $20. Oh baby.

The meat was well cooked, but extremely salty, to the point where I could feel the salt crystals on the meat. Bastards, forcing me to fill up on water instead of meat. What a cheap trick. Well it wasn't Fogo de Chao or M Grill, but it was still pretty damn satisfying.

Stuffed ourselves silly, talked about random things of times passed. Somehow managed to whittle away the hours until it was time to come home.

I'm sleepy unusually early. Good night.

success!

2009-03-20T23:16:00.000-07:00

As the lighting implements are still in Shea's class, I continue to use that at lunch for cheap entertainment.

I'm sick of headshots for now. So behold! My anti-headshot! Actually, an anti-headshot would be of someone's feet or something. Oh whatever.

Oh man, look at that studly photographer XD. I have to admit, he does look the part.

And that just plain sucks.

On to the fun part, aside from my car tire being popped. Which is why I had to bail on Tree and Ashley for Wienerschnitzel goodness. Freaking car.

Headed downtown with Sarah and Curstina for some food adventuring fun. First off was Wurstkuche, a Belgian sausage restaurant smack in the middle of the uber-hipster Art District by Sho Tokyo. The interior was dripping with urban touches - communal tables, brick walls, good music, and lots of fashionable people wearing porkpie hats and fedoras. You know, those people.

I got a Rattlesnake and Rabbit Sausage with Sauerkraut and Spicy Peppers on a boring roll. The combination of strange meats had a distinct taste. Not to the point where it was odd, but you could tell it wasn't just another chicken or pork sausage. The snakemeat was a tad rubbery, and the sausage overall was slightly buttery and a bit too juicy. The toppings were just icing on the cake, so to speak.

The fries were double fried and delicious. Crispy, not too greasy, and hearty. Definitely a batch of legit restaurant fries. Not to mention that it came in a paper cone! Instant awesome points. And the curry ketchup and BBQ sauce it came with were both excellent, particularly the former. I might just have to add some curry powder to my ketchup from now on.

As an added bonus, their plain ol' water is flavored with cucumber :D Nice touch. Also had a ridiculous selection of Belgian and German beers. Go back there when I'm old enough, to be sure.

I owed Sarah a cookie because of some stupid picture on facebook, but I would not give her just a plain cookie from school or somewhere equally boring. No, I had to take her to MILK, my go-to location for all matters cookie- and ice cream-related. Introduced her to the wonders of the Ooie Gooie Chocolate Chip Cookie. Ignore the spelling.

I have fulfilled my cookie debt.

We then got a Brownie Sundae and ate it in the car, watching out for the parking enforcement dude that was patrolling the area where we were. I guess we weren't supposed to park there.

Rich chocolate and vanilla ice cream topped with whipped cream, fudge, pecans, and cherry...all on a bed of crusty, delicious brownie goodness. What a beast of a dessert. We got it to go, so it's stuffed into a paper container. Believe me when I say that it looks far more epic when in a tall glass cup.

We were already full and on our way home when I remembered that the Kogi Truck was in the area. So...we turned around and headed straight for my newfound obsession.

Found the truck with a lot more ease than last time. The line was also only ten minutes long! We conversed with a funny Kogi Truck virgin (well he wasn't anymore, since that was his second round). His friends played a bit on their ukulele, then left him to wait in line to order tacos. They were quite hilarious to wait with. Got my Pork Taco, and Curstina got two for herself.

I've already shared my feelings on this topic, but once again I must say that those tacos make me jizz in my pants. If you don't get the allusion, shame on you.

Curstina, after having been shown the wonders of Korean bbq in a taco :D

And now, I am full beyond belief. I more or less waddled through the front door. Accomplished a lot in terms of gastronomics. Tried something new, returned to some of my old favorites. Good food, good music, good company. Honestly, what more could I possibly ask for?

Ever have one of those days

2009-03-19T22:52:00.000-07:00

where random things just happen? But you look back on it and smile? Yeah, today was one of those days.

School was normal. Nothing of significance to talk about. But after school, I accompanied Ashley to the aquarium to take pictures. And I finally got to hear her spiel about all of the lovely fishies, crustaceans, plankton, and whatnot. I feel thoroughly educated. Ah, and there was also this strange thing that must have been beaten with an ugly stick. Seriously.

Only a mother could love a face like that. Or eat it. It totally would. For the record, it's called a football fish. Only ten have been caught in the world. In like, forever. Interesting.

On the drive there, we passed by Slavko's, a chicken restaurant that has been on my food list for some time. Recommended to me by my mentor in all matters food-related, I was not disappointed. Two wings, a half-pint of some decent jambalaya, and some free delicious potato nuggets thrown in for free, just because the guy there was nice and awesome. Did I mention it ran me a mere $5.50?

Here's the jambalaya with the staples: jerk chicken and andouille sausage.

The chicken was definitely unlike the usual greasy, soul food-type fare that I usually have. The outside was light in consistency, grease and flavor. Rather than be overly seasoned with however many herbs and spices, it simply accentuated the almost sweet flavor of the moist chicken. As opposed to some fried skins that completely mask the flavor of the poultry beneath. The broasted potato nuggets were also quite delicious. Seasoned to perfection and bite-sized, they kicked the crap out of KFC's potato wedges.

Ashley and I both give it a 7/10.

The interior of Slavko's is also quite...eccentric. Random signs, models, and doodads peer down at you from above the tall drink-fridges along the wall. I had fun seeing what kind of things were up there.

Spent some more time with Ashley before I had to head home and go to the Prom Fashion Show rehearsal.

Plug: Come to the Attic Prom Fashion Show this Saturday at 11:00 am. Studly gentlemen and fashionable ladies show off the latest prom apparel. There will also be a silent auction to share a Shirley Temple with the models. Haha.

Moving on. Went to some new teahouse in Gardena with Curstina called Tea...something or other. I already forgot.

Edit: Dani says it's called Tea Station.

Overpriced, but they had an extensive tea selection that impressed me. However, I found it difficult to justify the purchase of a paltry pot of tea. I'll make mine at home. Instead, I got some wonderfully sweet Honey Milk Tea in a really cool cup/pitcher/thing.

We are scheming something really really really awesome. Keep an ear to the ground. You'll be quite happy with what's in store.

And now I am here, without any homework to do. How exciting :D I had a very good day. Did you?

And if you haven't already noticed, I go through food phases. I am currently in my fried chicken-barbecue phase. Before this, I was in my steak phase. What's next..?

GAH!

2009-03-18T22:59:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO SABRINA AND CONGRATS ON GETTING INTO LA. The fact that these two events were on the same day make them particularly worth mentioning.

Sabby, surrounded by all of her birthday goodies :D

Haha so UCLA results came out today...all of Yearbook was glued to the computers for the entire period.

Ironically, the decisions didn't come out until later. Congrats to all those who got in!

Annnd Members Only Night! With amazing performances by the Juniors, Band, Dance, and all those other cool kids. 09's was quite hilarious if you got the references.

Like this. Mean Girls!

But honestly, I was disturbed. Laughing my ass off, but disturbed -__-"

Overall, Jerek and ASB pulled it off pretty well. Although we had some awkward lulls in between the performances, I think Jacob and Jane's random jokes made things more bearable. I also freaking loved our ASB skit and commercials XD

This picture has nothing to do with anything. Other than highlighting the fact that cool kids wear sunglasses indoors. Or something. Why would anyone actually do that, anyways??

And here's Jerek, with the XXL Mega Super Plus Tampon. Ohhhh man. So wrong.

What a tiring day. I think the giant tampon just made everything better.

More monochrome fun.

2009-03-17T20:42:00.000-07:00

Before I talk about another photoshoot in my string of photoshoots, I would like to take this time to mention that Honey's Kettle Fried Chicken is amazing. I've already gone over this before, but I felt it deserved me mentioning it again.

That is all.
__________________________

And on to another day of studio lighting and awkward posing. Chris Koh volunteered to be my unfortunate model for the day. I should really take notes on how I set this all up. I'm pretty much working from scratch every single time. Damn.

I should've done something cool with the bottom of his shoes.

Chris does this thing where he likes to act....flamboyant. I don't get it. That kid's a weird one.

Staring off into oblivion.

I actually told him to think about college admissions for this picture. Figures.

Ahaha I really really really like this picture. Not for any technical reasons...it just makes me raff. Raff raff.

Emilaay: pah! orange my idea! xDDD
Yes, it was Emily's idea.

Having this much fun with photoshoots must be against the law or something. It's impossible for something to be so fun :D

How funny.

2009-03-16T22:08:00.000-07:00

I realized how much I miss having shitty point-and-shoot pictures of me and my friends. I'm so caught up with my gigantic Canon that the people around me simply don't take pictures anymore. I just...don't have the crappy low quality pictures of friends and events that I used to before I carried around my dslr everyday.

Makes me a bit sad.

I'll post something new when my life becomes interesting again.

Fun fun.

2009-03-14T11:51:00.000-07:00

Busy week. Haven't gotten much sleep. Looking forward to knocking out for the weekend. Lots of pictures to accompany this update, mostly modeling. Or actually, calling it modeling would be too gracious. More like random posing for the camera.

Jerek and Justin make very entertaining subjects. Both have great expressions and are quite outgoing. Makes my job easier. Tree, Sabby, Ashley, and I pretty much yelled out an emotion and they would imitate it. Nice.

Daaaayum! XD

Now, Mr. Shea had some continuous lighting fixtures sitting around in the photo classroom. So I had the idea to play around with them, and others joined in as the day went on. Thanks to my awesome models! At first there was only Sayo, who looks great when she's laughing, but eventually I rounded up random people to do the whole posing thing.

"Now, THIS is a photograph."

Fooling around with square composition.

Kinda just set up the lighting however I felt like it. Took a test shot, shook it up, went to work. Probably the most fun I've had in some time :D

Later on in the day, I headed out to the Kogi Truck! Or Kogi BBQ. Or whatever it's called. Headed out with Min and Scott, met up with Pastor Lee and his friend Albert once in line. I had to go all the way from USC to Sunset and Santa Monica because the truck at USC had left 24 minutes before our arrival. Bastards. It was quite an adventure trying to find the elusive truck, which we finally discovered upon seeing a mass of people semi-lined up in a parking lot. The truck came, people cheered, then proceeded to wait over an hour for some Korean-taco goodness. Totally worth the wait. Oh, and I saw Ray there! We semi-raced once he let me know he was going. Totally beat him there. Because we rock.

BBQ Pork Tacos, Galbi tacos. $2 each. Wonderfully seasoned meat with a medley of veggies not usually put into tacos. I gladly wolfed them down.

Kimchi Quesadilla. That's right. You read correctly. Kimchi in a mix of melty cheeses between a tortilla. Tasted a lot like buchimgae. But man, was it awesome. I want one right now, as a matter of fact.

Ohhh man. Galbi Burrito. A bit on the sweet side with some sort of asian dressing tossed into it, but still a solid burrito nonetheless. I would actually have gone for the pork one instead, but hey, it was so tasty, I didn't mind all that much.

Moving on to Friday, which was Pi Day :D Lots and lots of pie to go around. Haha around. Round. Pie. Get it? Har har.

Jerek dressed in the most awesome nerd costume ever. I only had Mike Ahn's suspenders to throw on. But Jerek and Kaitlyn gave me one of their Disney World buttons, so s'all good.

Shot up Pi Day, then went back to Shea's where another photoshoot and a stunning model awaited me.

Ashley told me a story about a Forkmaker who went on to become a Sporkmaker. Noooot quite sure how this fit into it, though.

Yup. That's my Ashley right there.

AHAHAHA. There's a great story behind this picture. Ask me about it sometime if you're curious. or Ashley. Or Emily. Or Sayo.

She puts up with my weirdness. I guess it helps that she's weird, too.

In conclusion, I want an all-white room to shoot in with seamless floors and walls. And lots of lighting fixtures. Ya know, I should just make myself a studio in the future. How fun would that be?

Moving on...Yearbook decided to include me into their Senior Ad! Hehe that made me smile on the inside. Although, most of the school probably assumes that I'm already on yearbook. Whatever.

Later that day, went to the CAMS Dance Show with Mikie. Just to get it out there, they're by no means South High Advanced Dance. It was very conceptual-abstract-whatever. Confusing at moments, but entertaining. And they have some amazing individuals on the team.

Mikie and I were starving afterwards, so we caught Five Guys just as they were about to close. It was so overly hyped, I was a bit disappointed. The meat was of good quality but lacked flavor. The amount of BBQ sauce they put on the burger was paltry. At least the jalapenos were delicious. And the grilled onions were unremarkable. But then, I've been spoiled by the onions at The Counter. It was a solid burger, but I failed to see why this was considered the In-and-Out killer or whatever. I'll stick to my 4x4 animal style any day.

But the fries...now those were good. Cooked in peanut oil, they took on a peculiar taste. They were also fairly thick-cut with skins left on. Really felt substantial like good steakhouse fries.

The large size is also VERY LARGE. It comes in a tall styrofoam cup, with the extra falling out into its accompanying paper bag. Quite a good amount for the price.

These past two days have been quite exciting. I've had reason upon reason to smile, and things have only been getting better and better. Here's to good times. I hope they don't end anytime soon.

I don't fail!

2009-03-10T21:05:00.000-07:00

Monday. Another school week. During the Bio lab, I learned that I sleep with my eyes slightly open. Cool.

And we also had the WASC meeting. They rewarded us kids for coming by setting out a whole bunch of candy. Haha Ashley harvested all the Twizzlers and enjoyed them throughout the conference.

So...more adventures with Scott now that he's back for Spring Break. Picked him up from work and drove out to Hollywood so I could share the joy of 25 Degrees, my new burger haunt. Speaking of which, we want to rent a room at the Roosevelt Hotel and see if it's haunted.

I took a better picture of the restaurant's interior, which I am quite a fan of. The only bad thing about this place is that there's no light. I'm really pushing my camera to its limits when I shoot in here. Hence, the incredibly noisy pictures.

Started off with a cheese platter. Gorgonzola, Red Hawk, and Benedictine. The Benedictine was a mix of cow, goat, and sheep cheeses. Oh man, it was sharp with a slight creaminess. I have to go find it. The platter came with some bread to spread the cheese on, but the breads had so many fruit bits that the sweetness completely overpowered the cheese. The bread did taste good as a standalone, though.

Then got a 50/50 with Sweet Potato Fries and Onion Rings. They used to be the same as those at The Counter, but it seems that they have since changed suppliers. Sweet Fries=awesome. Onion rings=bland and a bit soggy.

Annnd of course - The Sirloin Burger. This time with fried egg, provalone, and chili. The chili was well seasoned with lots of subtle hints of various peppers. I would eat it alone, as well. The burger was overcooked, but it still managed to taste amazing. However, the brioche is a bit on the ENORMOUS side. I wouldn't mind a hamburger bun.

Ah yes, and I'm not a complete high school failure. I got my first admissions letter today! UCSD. I hope I can do better than that, though. Haha Tree had to show me that the email said I was admitted. I had no idea what it was for originally.

woot.

Oh, and Sabrina's back from Florida! She brought us all Walt Disney World pens. Haha it's my consolation prize.

Congratulations to the Dance Team for kicking ass! And Saaya for getting 2nd for her solo! :D

Also had the West High ASB Mixer today. Got to hop around between that and the CIF Girls Soccer game, which we won 1-0. Not the most exciting game, but hey, we won! Of course, we took our obligatory ASB group picture. I like having Larry at these ASB events. It's comforting to know that the picture won't turn out like shit. Well it might, but that would be our fault for being ugly.

The Mixer was pretty fun. Got to eat, meet new people, share some laughs, dance like an idiot onstage, and all that other good stuff. Weird times for weird people.

This post lacks any sort of finality. So here. The end.

Strange Day.

2009-03-08T23:57:00.000-07:00

It was fun hanging out with Scott and Min and all for the week that they're back in Torrance. I'll be sad to see them leave again, but they're off to better and brighter things.

Scott and I are thoroughly convinced that Hot Dog on a Stick is a gift from God. Especially Cheese on a Stick.

Anyways, had to help tour around the WASC people today. Turns out that they have to work 15-hour days for three days straight, for no pay. Why would they do that, I wonder? Aside from a few of the committee members coming off as complete idiots, there were definitely some chill people there. Let's hope that all works out for the best.

Afterwards, the four ASB kids went to Penguin's. I think I found my ultimate yogurt combination. Chocolate Pudding yogurt with marshmallow cream, brownies, and mochi. Pure sugar-coated bliss.

Later, went out to dinner with the old church friends. I find it funny that I've never talked about a Korean food restaurant in my life before this. I've gone to them so often, that it doesn't even warrant me saying anything about them. I mean, I don't talk about my daily routine because it's so mundane. Same mindset applied with Korean food. But now that I think about it, there are some great Korean places out there.

Like Yellow Cow. Which has a cooler Korean name, but many would not understand it. So what's the point?

Heck, I can't even write out the names of the food I got. Closest English approximations would be thinly sliced brisket, marinated beef, and steak. Plus some bacon-like goodness, kimchi, steamed egg, and other foods that are incredibly awkward to write in English. Something gets lost in the translation.

But enough talk. I'll just show you the beef.

Now my stomach is churning. It hates me very very much. I shall sleep it off. Good night.

Good fun.

2009-03-08T00:23:00.000-08:00

Friday, another one of those "good food, good music, good company" days. After utterly failing at taking Varsity Softball pictures, I headed out to Long Beach with Sarah and Kyle to check out Johnny Reb's on Sarah's recommendation. I guess calling her by only her first name is significant somehow. So here, Sarah. You are on a first name basis with my blog. And since Kyle's going to be reading this too, hello Mr. Sophomore President.

Moving on.

Johnny Reb's is located in sort of a seedy area of Long Beach, but that did little to stop us. The interior is amusingly decorated with license plates, college pennants, and other knickknacks. On each table is a bucket of peanuts that you are free to eat at your pleasure.

We started with some Fried Okra with Ranch, which was the first time I'd had the dish. Fried vegetables are instantly more palatable than raw veggies.

Johnny Reb's has possibly the best brisket that I've had in California. Really. Many places cook it on the dry side, but Reb's kept it nice and moist. Their sauce was also interesting. Instead of a vinegar or smoky flavor being the focus of the sauce, the tomato flavor really shone through. Not a huge fan of that, but it was still great, nonetheless. The mac and cheese was solid. Hearty, with generous amounts of melted cheese that carried decent heft as I lifted it with my fork. The mashed potatoes were typical, but the chicken gravy was heavy on the black pepper and delicious. Sadly, the dish couldn't pull it's way all the way through. It failed on the cornbread, which was tasteless. But corn bread aside, I was delighted by the meal as a whole.

Finished off dinner with a shared peach cobbler a la mode. It was normal. Nothing spectacular. Good, but not great.

Service was friendly but slow-as-molasses. But the sound of clucking chickens in the bathroom made up for it.

The three of us then wandered along streets and freeways, ending up in Artesia, then Cerritos. Turns out that Little India is a block or two away from Guppy's. Then we wandered around the hills of PV, enjoying a view or two and running through open fields in the dark of night. Sarah then lost her car keys in the grass for a moment. Fail.

Sarah then dropped me off at In-and-Out, where I was supposed to meet this kid. Picture by Min.

He's back from college for Spring Break! Cool. So we hung out, like we always do.

And somewhere in between, I met all the Torrance and West High Boys' State delegates. We caught up, which was definitely nice.

Played Monopoly at my place in an effort to revert back to a childlike state.

The girls left, Scott slept over, life went on.

Saturday: I missed the CIF Finals for Girls' Soccer. And to top it off, we won. And even worse: Sarah and Kyle went to Five Guys. Damn.

But instead, I went out to Pasadena to meet one of my favorite cousins who's a physical therapist out there. Turns out the gym where he works gets people like Eminem and Monica Lewinski. Ha. Random.

Oh! And meet my nephew. He's gonna be awesome. And I'm gonna be an awesome uncle.

Well we went out for a family lunch at The Boiling Crab, which is a Southern-styled seafood place. It's great, besides the long wait.

Because you see, you order your choice of seafood by the pound, select your seasoning, and level of spiciness. You are then served a clear plastic bag filled with aforementioned seafood, boiled and ready to go. You get corn on the cob if you ask nicely. I had been craving a good crawfish boil since Friday, so we got that. Plus some shrimp. Succulent, spicy, delicious. And a terrible amount of fun to break open and eat.

I loved how the corn soaked up all the juices :D

Also got some fried catfish, which was moist, flaky, and had a light fried outside. Definitely made up for the sorry excuse for fish that I ate at Lucille's last weekend.

And here is the aftermath of my seafood massacre. Oh baby.

Said our goodbyes, then I came home. Took care of some business, then went to a special someone's house for a dinner of short ribs, green beans with bacon, and mashed potatoes. I swear, her dad is an amazing cook. Gah!! Also makes for some fun dinner conversations.

Went to watch Watchmen (haha redundant), and got a ticket for way later thinking that there would be a line. There wasn't, so we went to Koraku to get some dessert to top off the lovely dinner we had before.

Yum yum custard.

Went back to the theater, got carded several times to prove that we weren't little kids, then watched the movie. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Quite good, if not a bit on the long side. Thankfully, I was so engaged by the movie that I didn't even notice.

And now, I'm here at home, finishing off the last of my Girl Scout Cookies. Must buy more.

That is all.

We're awesome

2009-03-05T20:24:00.000-08:00

That is to say, South High's ASB kicks ass. We totally dominated the Torrance Youth Council's ASB Bowl with only a fraction of the members that the others ASBs had. Yeah. They wish they could be like us. Haha. Totally joking. But we did win.

Anyways, this is a recap of what happened on Sunday. Well, more like the photo commentary because I don't want to go through the details.

Tree, Ray, and I went to watch Coraline in 3D at the Howard Hughes Center. I had to take this picture, only because I had the fisheye on me and I wouldn't be able to take it with any longer of a focal length.

Please excuse the asian-ness.

It was my first time ever going there, and I was somewhat amused by the abundance of neon lights.

While waiting for the movie to begin, we headed over to the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, which I actually skipped while I was in the Rockies. How ironic. But Tree and I split a caramel apple, while Ray got - get this - chocolate dipped twinkies and oreos. Wow. Surprisingly tasty, actually.

And then some other stuff happened until Late Start on Tuesday, when the girls and Alex made Fritatta! Or however you spell it. Twas my last meal before fasting -__-

At least it was satisfying.

After fasting for 30 hours, I immediately went out of my way to get some pho. Oh man, what meaty noodley goodness made its way into my belly after a period of emptiness. What a wonderful feeling.

These shouldn't make any sense as a coherent story. Rather, I'm dropping in random contextual notes just to justify the use of these pictures. I don't want them to sit on my hard drive forever unseen.

Well today in Bio, Mueller gave us the opportunity to study independently for the whole class. Haha. Study. Sabrina has the right idea.

And Congrats to Sarah on getting a ridiculously awesome scholarship to UNC Chapel Hill, complete with laptop, tuition, and random summer trips and internships around the world! Yeahhhh! I'm happy for ya, Sarah :D

Actually, all of ASB was. So we did the only thing that we know how to do when we're happy. We eat cake.

This really has nothing to do with anything, but it made me laugh. People are weird.

Annnd back to the ASB Bowl. The theme was food items/meals, so we came as fast food! Condiments, Chipotle, Taco Bell, and Runners! Haha fast food. Runners. Get it?

We're sort of freaks.

One of the games was to make a salad and finish it as fast as possible. They gave us two forks. We had six people. Forks are so overrated, anyways.

Oh, that's attractive.

And so we freaking owned every game, getting first place in 3/4 of them. Behold our trophy! And ignore the asshole lurk from Torrance High in the center of the back row. I'll clone stamp him out later. Damn, how annoying.

Well, this post was more or less pointless. It's purpose was to fill the void that was caused by my not updating since Saturday.

I'm broke.

2009-03-01T11:36:00.000-08:00

I spent all my money on food yesterday. Mind you, I didn't waste it. I spent it.

But before I tell you about my Saturday, I want to throw in this little picture that I took at Kendo on Friday night. My heart just melted.

She's sooo tiny! Gah! Wait a few years, and she'll be kicking my ass.

Well, on to Saturday. Garage Sale! That I technically wasn't a part of. I just existed in that general area. On the way to pick up something nice for the lovely, I saw that my favorite barbecue stand was back at farmer's market! Oh, the joy I felt when I walked up to order my Dog in a Ditch with brisket and extra sauce. It made me happy to see them again. Then I picked up some boba for Sayo and Emilaaay, who were most likely baking in the heat. Picked myself up a chocolate shake, too. Drove over to Sayo's dad's place, and plopped down for lunch. What a lunch it was.

Foil is terrible to photograph in the sun.

Now, during the garage sale, an interesting old man stopped by. He was lively, had a great sense of humor, and was overall just a swell guy. He was also 80.

He didn't look it. His secret? Love, and don't eat too much meat. I fail at one of those. And he felt so inclined to buy something, he took an unused SAT 2 study guide. Ha.

His license plate was also ridiculously awesome.

And then Ashley came and brought some Babycake goodness :D Yum.

We finished up, cleaned the extra junk, and parted ways for an hour before meeting up at Lucille's. Only problem was, I didn't know what time we split up. So I didn't know what time we had to meet. Hence my lateness.

Catfish Po' Boy. Open-faced. Catfish was bland and in little strips, not giant chunks like the good places do. Really not a big fan. I'll go back to Ragin Cajun or Honey's to satisfy my catfish cravings.

We then split up again. Met up with Nikki to explore Hollywood and the Silent Auction. She was hungry, so we stopped by Aroma Cafe to pick up some eats. I actually didn't get anything, but I did have a bite of her veggie sandwich. It was surprisingly flavorful, but I disliked the lack of meat. I would be a terrible vegetarian. Well Arome Cafe is also an overpriced bakery, with these nice-looking fruit tarts that photographed very nicely.

We then proceeded to buy some chocolate baked goods that I didn't photograph because I was too busy eating them and feeling all giddy from their chocolate goodness. Think macaroons, if you really want to picture them.

Went to something called EAT MORE ART OUT! at Meltdown Comics on Sunset. Silent Art Auction, but it was anything but silent. The DJ was blasting music in the gallery, and all sorts of people wearing roller blades, dressed up as superheroes, and other generally fashionable LA people were chatting it up. Quite a lively atmosphere.

The art pieces there made me realize how much I wish I had random amounts of money to buy some pieces. Oh well. That's life. But this one struck me as particularly odd. The guy had a canvas tacked to the wall, which he just drew on periodically throughout the night. Quite fun.

We then perused the various comics and manga in the store, indulging in a sense of geekiness that was quite fun. I can see why so many people enjoy it.

Left the auction and headed out to Hollywood. Had to find out if Sunset was north or south of Hollywood Blvd. I've never had to go from one to the other. After making an informative phone call, I also saw the towering Scientology sign on Hollywood Blvd. Ironically, it acted like a beacon for us. Ha.

Now, Hollywood on a Saturday night is always a fun place. That is, if you want to see wanton public drunkenness, tourists, and others who generally have nothing to do but loiter. But hey, where else can you find an H&M that's open until 11? Point taken.

Now, there was this sign that made me laugh. Like, really. Find anything weird about this?

Yeah! Bring your kids to Hooters! Expose them to freakishly well-endowed women and dry buffalo wings at an early age! Power to the American people! Booya!

Well definitely wasn't going to eat there. While searching for a decent hot dog, we saw this gem of a restaurant called 25 degrees, next to the Roosevelt Hotel. I think I've read about it someplace, but it didn't immediately strike me as interesting. But after looking at their menu and taking a gander inside, we immediately took a seat at the bar. The interior was dimly lit, with large, red upholstered booths around the walls of the joint. A long, substantial wooden diner-esque bar ran across the restaurant. The walls had a very interesting wallpaper design, and some urban outfitter styled light fixtures. Twas a burger joint, but they served cheese platters, mixed drinks, beer floats, and some attractive desserts. Only in LA.

On to the eating part. The sweet potato fries were exactly like those at The Counter. And I mean exactly. They get them from the same supplier. But they are seasoned a little bit differently, and presented like any contemporary Hollywood place would do it. With lots of white. Ignore the ketchup and mustard drawings. Those were made post-serving.

Now the burger...oh man. Where to begin! It was a byob (build your own burger) place, with a nine dollar set price for a sirloin burger and the typical vegetables. An assortment of exotic cheeses cost 1.50 extra, and toppings and sauces ran you an extra dollar each. I had a medium well sirloin burger with some stretchy, gooey, tasty smoked mozarella, garlic aioli, and prosciutto, all on a very hefty bun. The cheese, as I already mentioned, was great. Sauce went almost unnoticed, and the prosciutto was thick-cut, ending up like bacon more than the prosciutto di parma tha I was expecting. But I can't say anything bad about the burger as a whole. It was juicy, delicious, and just plain awesome. I have fallen in love with the burgers at 25 degrees.

The man behind the bar was also entertaining, commenting on the cars that passed by the window, and telling about his own old school truck that he was repairing with his dad. Fungi.

I had such an unhealthy eating day. But oh well. Worth it.

And on the way home, as my mind drifted off to the beats of Benny Benassi, I started seeing splotches of blue paint across my field of vision. I swear...I was tripping out. But that doesn't really matter all that much, I suppose. Whatever. Off to watch Coraline in 3D!

My shirt is purple.

2009-02-27T22:41:00.000-08:00

Class Comp #2 is officially over. It may also be our final class comp. But more on that later.

I find it completely absurd and amusing that we would take myspace pictures with a dslr. But hey, when you have a fisheye, it's kinda expected. I suppose.

Heh. I have another one freakishly similar to this from Class Comp #1 :]

And now, a slew of fisheye pictures. These involved the camera being shoved ridiculously close to peoples' faces, to the point of awkward discomfort. I love doing it.

Tree's glasses tend to have an awkward glare. Dunno why.

Teeheehee. Melon face.

So here's our corner of the mall. Considering how little preparation went into it, the corner turned out alright.

And here are some posters that made me laugh more than usual...
Oh, you silly pirates.

Haha.

Now, before ditching Bio, Sabrina, Jerek, and I realized that Converse makes too many different shades of purple. This picture corresponds with Sabrina's post, btw.

and Freshmen can't spell to save their lives. Also referencing Sabrina's post.

Edit: Dani can't spell to save her life.

Now, I'm sorry for the lack of Class Comp pictures. Hopefully you will see them in all their blown up glory during the slideshow.

Oh, and a little rant. There's a decent chance that we'll lose Class Comp thanks to douchebags like these guys.

They thought it would be "cool" and "rebellious" or whatever shit goes through their heads to pretend to be Sophomores, then reveal themselves. Seriously?? Not to mention all of the other shit that 09 did in the days leading up to and on Class Comp. School Admin already hates Class Comp...we're just giving them more reasons to take it away. Which they've already brought up several times. Come to think of it, this Class Comp was supposed to dictate whether the school can handle em or not. Let's hope the decision goes in our favor, lest we be the asshole class that ruined school spirit.

I'm leaning towards removing any trace of them from the slideshow. Ha. That would be fun.

Now, I can't put any pictures from the games up. But I HAD to show you guys this. There's no way I could keep this gem from the world.

Well, other than our Cheer, we did alright.

In other news, Sabrina and Alex have matched for two days in a row!

And on Sarah's random fact calender in ASB, they ACTUALLY put this on one of the days. That's not all that random, considering the calender taught me that the YKK zipper company stands for "Yoshida Kogyo Kabushikikaisha." Ha.

Random

2009-02-27T17:53:00.000-08:00

While looking through my old pictures, I realized that I had failed to upload some. So to start off, a memory from the dog days of summer, when we're too damned hot to do anything that doesn't involve something cool and refreshing.
Like iceblocking.

Yes, sit on a block of ice with a towel separating your ass and the chunk of frozen goodness beneath you. Freeze your butt, slide down a hill, fall, laugh, repeat.

We raced and raced, crashed into each other, laughing all the while.

Chris liked this one because it made him look buff. Ha.

And we had one of our last rolls of polaroid, only to realize that the entire roll was dead. What a downer.

Can't wait to do it again.

Now, fast forward to early February, when Emilaay, Alex, Nicolet, and I went to the beach after the rain. Of course, we had to convince Emily's madre that we wouldn't catch colds and die in the cold weather. Ha.

But yes, the weather is quite nice after a rainfall. The billowy clouds with rays of light peaking through...wet sand sloshing beneath your feet...puddles galore to jump in at your heart's content. How lovely.

You must believe that the spoon will reveal to you something that which do not already know. Contemplate, then believe.

And then, we got churros :D Because why else would you go to the pier?

And before I go, one last thing. A polaroid that I randomly took around school one day. A 2 second composition, with little thought put into it. But when the polaroid slowly began to develop, I could feel my excitement mount. I held in my hand my favorite polaroid of all time. Something about the juxtaposition of the delicate flowers and the hard metal sign and fence just got to me.

I guess I'll post Class Comp pictures later.

Snow snow snow

2009-02-26T23:07:00.000-08:00

So ignore the fact that this is two days late. I shall be talking about my second to last and last day in Vail.

I didn't really feel like skiing the second day there. I would've much rather gone to explore Denver. So I did. And what a beautiful view I had along the way there.

Once there, the first thing I had to see was the Denver Art Museum. I think I described this as the Walt Disney Concert Hall, without the curves. I guess that's vaguely accurate.

Now, this is supposedly art. I would beg to differ.

But it wasn't the sculpture itself that tickled me. It was the plaque in front of it.

har har har.

The museum turned out to be quite interesting. The other part of it, the Hamilton Building, looked like the Bastille. Huh. And the works within actually outdid LACMA in some senses. Some Mondrian here, some Monet there. Throw in some Picasso, Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol...hell, the gang's all here. Definitely a good choice to go there.

As I walked up a flight of the museum's stairs, I saw this looking up at me.

I love little violations of private space. They make me laugh.

walked through a park that looked like it was straight out of ancient Rome, then headed to the 16th Street Mall. Think 3rd Street Promenade, but with public transportation. Lots of shops, eateries, theaters, etc.

Cool, but overly commercialized. But then, what did I expect?

Had lunch at the Paramount Cafe, which had a plethora of strange burgers. Bison, ostrich, etc. I went for an Elk Burger with barbecue sauce, swiss cheese, and bacon. The elk looked and tasted like an Angus 1/3 pounder from McDonald's. Not gamey at all. How disappointing. But the bacon was thick and crispy, the sauce bland and useless. The onion rings it came with were thick-cut, but that's pretty much the only redeeming factor. They tasted like paper.

Then went to the Denver Contemporary Art Museum, which didn't allow photography. All I can say is, the conceptual aspects of MOCA and LACMA on steroids. Tilting my head to the right did little to make the "art" make any sense to me. Bleh.

Headed back over to Vail, explored the village some more and took pictures of random oddities. Like this ice sculpture.

Went out to dinner with the Cojab family, a lovely bunch that my parents do business with. Their kids were unspeakably adorable. I can confidently say that without it compromising my masculinity in any way, shape, or form.

We ordered a whole bunch of plates (the restaurant was Italian) and split it family style. The restaurant really felt like a traditional Italian place, not that I know what that would be. But if I did, I would imagine it to look like that. Servers were friendly and knew when and when not to bother the customers. Very savvy.

Now, I gravitated towards the Penne ala Vodka, which was loaded with prosciutto. Very exciting. The sauce wasn't too overpowering, there was only a hint of Vodka flavor, and the meat was delicious.

We did the same family-type deal for dessert. Flourless chocolate cake, chocolate gelato (which had such a high temperature for a gelato that I mistook it for mousse at first), and creme brulee. I was smiling.

Next day: explored Vail for a little bit before I had to leave.

This was at a fur store. Empirical evidence that rich people have too much money on their hands.

Here's that place I went for dinner the first night. I found the architecture charming and warm. Might as well have been in the Alps or something.

And if only I had a tripod, I would do a long exposure of the creek that ran through the town. Oh well.

Now, it turns out that there's a drive-thru barbecue joint called Nick and Jim's or something or other. So of course, I had to go there. The brisket sandwich was a big weak (read:boring) and it came dry. Personally, I like mine drenched in sauce. But hey, it was drive-thru and I was starving. I ate it and enjoyed it.

I find this picture of the area around Denver so incredibly dull, that I actually like it. Weird.

and then I arrived at home, crammed for all my makeup tests, went to school and bitched about the Lit essay.

Then I saw Ashley. We had an awesome running-start hug. Oh, how I missed her hugs. And her too, of course.

Anyways, Sabrina and Alex were matching :D

And in Bio, I told Justin to hold the camera really close to his face and take a picture. Fisheyes can make one look extremely unattractive XD

and now, I must prepare for Class Comp. And think of ways to get out of class. This shall be quite an adventure in its own right...

I'm full.

2009-02-23T22:47:00.000-08:00

Today was filled with a mass volume of food, but it was both quantity AND quality. But more on that later.

The snow in Vail is amazing. It's leagues apart from the slush/ice crap that I have to ride down in Mammoth or Big Bear or wherever. The snow here has such a low moisture content, that it's practically dry. This leads to a lovely pillow of powdery fluff that is a pleasure to ride down.

It's like this: in Mammoth, I feel as if I'm fighting the mountain. It wants me to fall, and I'm doing everything in my power to stop it. Whereas in Vail, the snow is so perfectly enjoyable, it's as if the slopes are working with me to provide the optimum skiing experience. The powder more or less catches me when I'm about to fall, and I hardly hear any ice-scraping noises as I speed down the mountain. Mammoth and the like scream at me, Vail sings.

Also, the mountain is so ridiculously large that it feels practically empty. See?

Notice the absence of any other people on a perfectly good run. This is what I was blessed with the whole day.

Except for complete whiteout for a while and being pelted by stinging needles of snow when going at high speeds, I couldn't have asked for a better day on the slopes.

Now, on to the food. For lunch I went to the Red Lion, which was more or less a tavern. I had a Blue Cheese burger with some good bacon, and a side of onion rings. The blue cheese and bacon added such a smoky taste to the high quality meat of the burger that I nearly cried. I love smoky. It's as if some brilliant man canned the essence of good smoke, concentrated it, and injected it into my burger. Sadly, the onions were devoid of any sort of flavor. Oh well.

To drink, I had a mix of hot apple cider and Tuaca, an Italian liqueur that is brandy-based and has a strong vanilla flavor. It warmed me to my soul.

Skied some more after lunch, went back to the room to shower, and went out to Beaver Creek, a small village a short distance from Vail. It's like Vail, only cuter and more lively.

There was a beautiful creek that ran under a covered wooden bridge, pretty much typifying my vision of winter.

Browsed a few art galleries and clothing stores for snooty rich people. A ski jacket on sale for ONLY $2000?! What a bargain! And if anyone is in the need of a 289 lb chunk of metal that crashed from outer space for $50,000, let me know. Or a perfect fossil of some gigantic fish for $125,000. What a steal! Rich people have too much money on their hands.

(For the record, my dinner was paid for by the type of snooty rich people I just mentioned. Except, they weren't snooty at all. They were making fun of the snooty ones. Great people, really.)

Ate dinner (or a better word: feasted) at the Beaver Creek Chop House. As soon as I heard Chop House in the name, my heart leaped. It could only mean one thing: good beef.

Well, I started it all off with a Shrimp Creole Bisque. It was heavy on the southern flavor, with bits of pepper and such floating around. Tasty, but not remarkable.

But the filet mignon, on the other hand. Wow. Best. Cut. Ever. The meet was so tender, I could go at it with a blunt spoon. It was cooked medium rare, right on the dot. The beef came with a Cabernet reduction dipping sauce, which went great with the red meat. As I took a bite of the filet mignon dipped in the sauce, then took a sip of red wine, it was like a symphony of flavor. The Cabernet reduction matched up excellently with the Rubicon Estate Cabernet, like two forces joining together in a dance of awesomeness in my mouth. I shouldn't forget to mention the sides, either. Sweet Potato Puree and pommes frittes covered in truffle shavings. Yum.

Now this, I feel, was a bit much. Acqua Panna, bottled in Tuscany, Italy. I will admit that it was cleaner and smoother than tap water. The couple that took my family out to dinner swore that it was better. Part of me agreed, while the other part could only stare in disbelief at the price tag and think seriously? Meh. Just give me some tap water. I'll live.

By the time we finished dinner, the town was dead quiet. Except for the Thriller playing at the ice skating rink. That was awesome.

:]

"What the neighbors might think..."
"But baby, it's cold outside."

Dude, Vail's fun. I don't want to go back and sign up for APs and take 100 makeup tests. Yar.

Vail, not Vale.

2009-02-22T20:46:00.000-08:00

I've been spelling the name of this wonderful mountain town incorrectly for the past week. I fail. Wow. That's kind of embarrassing. But anyways, for those few of you who actually care, Vail is lovely. The air is fresh and crisp, the food tasty, the people rich and snooty, and the snow fluffy.

Here's how my day went...

This was my view for a good 2.5 hours. Notice the Sausage McGriddle stuffed into the pocket in front of me.

I arrived at the airport. This sign made me strongly aware of the fact that I was no longer in So Cal.

Heh. and there were these giant painted paper airplanes following me around. Pretty cool.

Picked up the rental car, and went off to meet my old Kumon teacher who moved out here a little while ago. I'm in Denver, and somehow I end up at a Korean place. Figures. But I did enjoy a nice lunch.

What do robots eat? Bibimbap. Har har har. Fob joke.

Drove off and arrived at the hotel called Austria Haus. It's so amazingly cozy! There's even a fireplace and some overstuffed chairs in the lobby :D

Now, Vail has a series of tiny little alpine-esque villages that I'm thoroughly enjoying exploring. One such gem was this restaurant called Lancelot, where we went for dinner.

Engorged myself on a 12 oz. cut of beautiful prime rib and a baked potato. The meat beat the shit out of that at Lawry's. Juicy, tender, well-seasoned, abounding in flavor. The potato was alright, too. Beautiful lighting courtesy of my lightscoop.

After waddling and rolling myself out of the restaurant, I split off from the parentals and went exploring. How wonderful it was, with covered wooden bridges, lit pine trees, and everything else symbolic of quiet little winter villages. How quaint.

Here's a burst of color from the leftover holiday lights, for your enjoyment.

:]

and this, love, is just for you.

Well now I'm off to rid myself of airplane stench and get ready for skiing tomorrow! Well actually, I'll probably end up exploring Denver or something or other. Looking forward to it.

looong day. but a good one.

2009-02-21T23:28:00.000-08:00

Before I talk about this weekend, let's take it back to Thursday...pre-Lit project. Wow, we fail at being productive. Took the whole day to finish the damned thing. Instead of working, we watched "Whose Line is it Anyways?" on youtube for a good hour or so. Probably longer.

I'm the queen of France!

And on to Friday...Mikie pulled Saaya out of dance so we ate instead of her exercising. And what did we eat? Guess.

Raced off to drop Saaya at her studio, went back to Mikie's. I was supposed to go to Melting Pot, but I'm sheisty. So Mikie and I made fondue at her house. Mmmmmmmm :D

And that day ended with some other random stuff. Jeff, Jamie, Curstina came over. Talked. Acted lame. Left. And on to Saturday...

So Nikkie just happened to be in the area today. Using that fortuitous coincidence, she picked me up and we raced off to adventure in LA.

If there's one thing that captures Nikki's personality, it's her ipod. Observe.

On the aforementioned ipod, there was an Alice in Wonderland audiobook. Oh, the fun that ensued. The reader was superb, with a lovely accent and voice impressions of all the characters. Imagine the fun when several characters were rapidly exchanging dialogue XD

But then we had to change it back to music, for we were so distracted by the audiobook that we almost became lost.

We accidentally found Phillipe's (which I have actually stumbled upon by accident twice, now). I fell in love.

In case you don't know, Phillipe's is a cultural icon for LA foodies. It's 100 years old this year, and has stood the test of time with low prices, interesting people, and it just seems to bring all of LA together through food within the confines of its neon-sign adorned walls.

Phillipe's also just happens to have an impressive candy selection.

After waiting in a line that moved like molasses on a cold day, we ordered. I got a french dip (double-dipped, mind you), some 75 cent lemonade, and a pickled egg. All this came out to eight-something dollars. Glorious.

The bread was lightly dipped in the juice of the meat, while the meat was tender and flavorful. The swiss cheese, an add-on, didn't do much for the sandwich. I ended up eating it on the side. Lemonade was definitely homemade, but didn't live up to the standards of some other joints. But at 75 cents, I aint' complaining.

Now, the pickled egg was quite interesting. Hard-boiled and purple, I bought it out of curiosity more than anything. It tasted of vinegar and such, but not overly so. Did I mention that it was purple. Get some of these for class comp XD

Left this wonder of beef, bread, and funny Angelinos to explore Olvera Street.

I realize now how it reminds me little of modern Mexico, as little as a mock Western town would remind me of the U.S. It's just too forced. But hey, it's still fun to browse the shops and stalls. Colorful, lively, awake.

I spent my time on Olvera Street eating these cheap little fruit snack things. They're sticky, chewy, fruity-sweet, salty, and spicy all at once. It felt like my taste buds were being punched from all sides. And they cost $1 for two. It was like crack, only cheaper.

Moved on to Union Station, where I once picked up Andrea from San Diego, complete with 50 pound bag of college student laundry. The interior is beautiful. Light filters through the tall windows, bouncing off of the polished floor and dancing across the vaulted ceiling. The plush chairs and elaborate light fixtures draw me back to a time of opulence and elaborate design. Little birds fly through the open doors and dance through the train station. It's also a great place to just sit and peoplewatch.

One day, we're gonna just hop on a train and go somewhere.

We then moved on to a most peculiar post office. Definitely more interesting than the one in Torrance.

I mean, does this really look like somewhere you'd come by to drop off your mail?

Didn't think so. But I should mention that on the left wall, there are a set of large glass doors that open up into the blindingly white room that is actually the post office, with counters, PO boxes, etc. Definitely a contradiction...the aging interior of the building with an uber-modern brightly lit room within it. I'll have to go back to drop off a letter one day.

Keep in mind, everything that I've done in LA thus far was within walking distance of each other. There's just a concentration of awesomeness there.

We got on the wrong freeway to get home, missed the freeway we were supposed to merge onto, and somehow ended up seeing this sign before getting back onto the 91.

But we had to get home to support Chris at his Eagle Ceremony, so we didn't go. I was seriously THAT close to Disneyland, but didn't go. That is the definition of frustration.

So yes, we drove off to this little happenstance.

Just kidding. It's a pretty big deal. My sincerest congratulations to Chris on his wonderful accomplishment.

Some of the cool kids who came...

and the results of me awkwardly shoving my camera into peoples' faces and firing the shutter. laugh laugh.

We said our kind words, made fun of each other, talked up Voltron and Transformers, then I was off to see Ashley and Liuser :D My plot to kick Kevin failed, but at least we got to talk for a bit. Freaking frog-jumper who smiles while running. Good to hear that he stuck with track. but I really want a bit of the pizookie that they made. Meh >_<

Kevin had to leave, because he's a good kid and obeys the curfew. Ha. That's funny. So Ashley and I went to Barnes to read some really difficult books.

:]

Remember to never ever ever get stuck in the Waiting Place. It's just lame.

and that, my dears, concludes my weekend update. If you managed to make it through the whole thing, I applaud you. I have once again fallen in love with Larry's fisheye, which he has so graciously let me borrow for Vale and Class Comp. Hopefully I'll have some interesting pictures to show you guys on the slopes, in the village, and in the city. Lots of stuff to do and explore in Denver and the adjacent area...just gotta make sure that I hit all of it :D

See you guys Thursday. and I'll see you as soon as I get back :]

should be working.

2009-02-18T23:44:00.000-08:00

I should be working on my Keynes essay right now, seeing as I won't be able to do it tomorrow. Oh well. It can wait.

The past few days have been fairly uneventful. Nothing all that epic to speak of. So here are a few random smatterings of fun things to kill time.

Like...Sabrina's new shoes :D One day, I'll take a not-so-shitty picture of them.

and Class Comp #2's coming up. You guys ready? Hell yeah...

and for those kids who have no friends, there's always this.

So I had mentioned eating barbecue for lunch the other day. I did. And I enjoyed it. Chicken stuffed with jalapeno and cheese, wrapped in bacon. Heavenly, much. The seemingly random tastes actually blended together quite well. The fattiness of the bacon complimented the lean chicken, while the spicy jalapeno balanced out the sweet barbecue sauce. It was a meal of contradictions that came out quite nicely in the end.

and...more rain boot pictures! I love those things.

ASB got together to eat Chipotle before the art show. Made my tummy happy.

and the Art Show...got my little award crap, got embarrassed by the presenters in ways that you wouldn't believe. Sarah's never gonna let me live that down. Ohhh jeez. But at least Ashley came to the show after all. That made me happy :]

lastly, we got together for the Lit project. This was my contribution.

Oh, I'm such a hard worker. Not. and now back to the essay. Damn you, Keynes.

Study fail and barbecue.

2009-02-16T20:10:00.000-08:00

We tried to get together for the Lit Project on Sunday...failed miserably. Half of us hadn't even read the book. Lame. So while others read the book, what did I do? Guess. Seriously. Just guess. It's not that hard.

Can't think of a witty caption.

Har har. Sabby's facial expressions make me raff.

In the face.

Ray was there too, but I cannot find a suitable picture. So none for him!

Then we ate, attempted to "study" for "bio." Failed again.

Annnddd on to Monday. Cleaned up some stuff, did some other equally vague stuff, then went out to eat dinner. I was craving barbecue again, so I looked up a couple of places and ended up at this one by Union Station.

Total laid back, no-frills barbecue goodness. I dislike using the abbreviation/acronym/whatever "bbq." It's the kind of place where they keep a roll of paper towels on the table and have a bagged loaf of white bread just sitting there to enjoy. The kind of place where college kids go in, grab a good beer, and talk about random crap. Yeah, my kind of place.

I had a pound of hickory-smoked pulled brisket. Pulled brisket? That was interesting. I prefer mine thinly sliced, but to each his own. The sauce was kinda tangy, almost vinegarish, but watery and weak. Meat was dry. But I got one of the ends with the crispy fat bits and HOLY CRAP it just melted in my mouth. Orgasmic.

I love the glisten of barbecue sauce on meat. Heavenly.

And the sides were whatever. Nothing to rave about. Mac and cheese with fries in the foreground.

Mi madre got a sampler platter. Hot link, spare ribs, brisket, and chicken. The hot link was decent, the rest I'm eating for lunch tomorrow. I'm excited.

And there was some cornbread with green beans or something or other baked into it. I personally enjoy my cornbread sweet; this one was a bit savory, salty, yeah.

Washed the whole thing down with some iced tea. Because iced tea and some derivative of lemonade are the only acceptable drinks to enjoy with barbecue in these here parts. Or a mint julep. Or something else with inebriating capabilities.

And the table across from mine was having a very heated discussion about the use of animatronics in feature rides at Disneyland. Definitely my kind of place, but can't say the same for the food.

Hmm...I should really study for Bio. Or not.

Hearts and Hearts

2009-02-15T00:38:00.000-08:00

So last night, the guys at church had to serve the girls. Cook, serve, entertain, the works. In between my serving and bossing around of the middle schoolers, I lurked. I am continually amazed by the lightscoop. Mind you, there was almost NO light in the room when I took this.

We were all tired as hell afterwards, so Pastor Lee, the guys (plus Sarah) went out to Denny's. Blech. Got the BBQ sliders.

Anddd now on to Valentine's Day. Was running late so I didn't quite make it in time for lunch at Emilaaaay's. Her mom, however, was nice enough to make more :D And John brought his oh-so-manly guitar picks.

I had the lovely surprise of being greeted by these colorful bundles of color :]

And now I shall post the pictures of the couples, because I know that they'll want them for whatever reason. Bear with me here, people. John and Emily:

Vine and Tree.

and we half-knocked out. Not sure who took this or when. Reveal yourself!

Ashley and I went on a grocery adventure for cupcake mix and dinner ingredients. Afterwards, Vine had to assert his manliness by furiously mixing the cupcake batter. Heh. Alright.

And then the two little fatties emptied out the bowl. There's a cute little girl hidden behind that bowl, somewhere.

And of course, the usual food picture. Because how can I write about food without showing pictures..?

Watched a bit of Tarzan, then went our separate ways.

Ashley and I made our Valentine's Dinner of Montecristos, Brocolli, Chocolate Mousse (fail), and Sparkling Cider. Quite tasty, really.

Now, half the fun of the montecristo is the messiness involved with making it. And then dropping into a vat of bubbling oil. Mmmmm.

The finished product, with the yummy broccoli that I actually didn't mind eating ;]

And cider. Not just any cider. It was special.

So we enjoyed our attempt at recreating The Blue Bayou and watched Ratatouille in the spirit of cooking and stuff.

What a lovely weekend. Good food's always more fun when it's with someone special, yeah? Good food, good music, good company.

Plip. Plop. Splash.

2009-02-13T23:45:00.000-08:00

I awoke to the sound of rain, one of my favorite melodies in the world. And so I bundled up, anticipating the biting cold that would accompany the downpour of water from above. Upon listening to Disney songs on the drive to school, I got out of my car and walked to class to see this.

The light also struck the leaves in the most peculiar way...

I was totally late to zero, but I didn't mind. Why? Because Mrs. Cardenas' kids ran into the classroom, asking for me. They ran all the way over to see my picture of the rainbow. Those kids just made my day :]

And the day went on, until Bio. Jerek gets very expressive when playing Pokemon.

While studying, we bought these lovely little dirt cups.

Sadly, they were so small that we ate them in mere moments.

and then on to ASB, to prepare for Cultural Food Day. There was an abundance of cool rainboots today. It made me very amused and happy.

Cultural Food Day was fun, as usual. I got pho :D

Kelly was secretly trying to look like me. But don't tell anyone.

I freaking lava CSF Board for giving me their sauce. This should last me a while. I've since used up the bottle that they gave me on club day. Teeheehee.

And the day went on, with rain, rain, and more rain. And puddle jumping! And squishy shoes, then more puddle jumping. And Alex dancing in the rain.

Ah, rain. How I love thee. Please don't leave just yet.

Why so silent, good monsieurs?

2009-02-08T23:28:00.000-08:00

Today was a good day. A foodie day, an artsy day, a fun day.

Headed out with mi madre to Hollywood. Phantom of the Opera's in town, and I refused to miss it. So we made our way over to the Pantages Theater and went through a lot of trouble to get a couple of Mezzanine seats.

Had some time to kill before the showing, so we went to this place to eat.

Yum. Katsuya. One of those overpriced sushi restaurants geared towards celebrities, socialites, the art crowd, and anyone else with too much money on their hands. Not a big fan of spending inordinate amounts of cash on food, but it's across the street from the theater and we were pressed for time.

The interior decoration is quite contemporary, with blown up pictures accentuating female eyes, glossy lips, and whatever else us guys are supposed to fall for. Also, they have the most interesting bathrooms of all time. Seriously. Trippy. I also think it's a requirement to be ridiculously good looking to work there. Ha.

The food was good, but just alright considering the price. Started off with the Softshell Crab, which was the same as other softshell crabs I've had. The greens it came with were good, though.

I had the Kobe Beef Filet with Foie Gras. Can't complain in any way with this. The meat was tender and juicy, the foie gras was buttery and awesome. The whole dish was lightly bathed in a teriyaki-ish sauce. Sweet, but not too sweet. Yummy.

Mi madre had some seared tuna with spinach. The tuna was tasty, the spinach was really salty, but filled with random flavors. Good, and surprisingly cheap.

Left the place in a hurry, headed inside the theater, and snapped off a few shots before the show started.

I looked up, and saw this.

Another example of my obsession with long hallway shots.

And then, I got to enjoy Phantom of the Opera. I was floored. I have the songs running through my heads. I want to run around in a tailcoat and halfmask. I want to live in a labyrinth underneath an opera house.

It was stylistically very similar to the recent movie, for better or worse. Other than a lackluster chandelier-crashing scene, I could do nothing but sit there, entranced by the awesomeness that was the musical.

Mi madre and I left the show, smiling and giddy. But we were hungry, so we drove over to the Pacific Dining Car (which thankfully is open 24 hours). The place is pretty much a train car with a building attached to it. See?

I felt like having breakfast for dinner, so I ordered the Creole Benedict. It's like an egg benedict, but with crab cakes instead of ham or whatever. Yum. Thoroughly satisfying.

Mi madre got a Chocolate Souffle. It was airy but unbelievably rich. Slightly sweet with a hint of dark chocolate bitterness. It also came with whipped cream that beat the crap out of any canned product.

My mom also drove me around downtown, pointing out all the places used to frequent during her younger days. I'll have to check these places out. My mom's a pretty cool person. Ha. Who would've guessed.

And that was my day. I'm quite proud of it. I actually managed to take out two of the places on my must-try restaurant list in one night. Yeah.

So how was your day?

Monochrome and Chikin.

2009-02-07T22:20:00.000-08:00

So Black and White yesterday. My legs were kind of sore this morning, I suppose. Overall, the dance was sorta bleh. It was more of being able to spend time with some cool people and take awkward pictures of people dancing. Well, you can't even call it dancing. More like dry sex. Those nasty underclassmen.

But anyways. My Friday was filled with brownies. Tree brought some in the morning, which I proceeded to steal from her and munch on for first through third period. Then in ASB, it was Jen's prebirthday! So we had more brownies.

oh baby.

and then some other stuff happened, then some other stuff, and it finally ended up being time to get ready for Black and White. I was enjoying a lovely nap when people actually started arriving to Mikie's house. Dangit.

So we took pictures before we left.

The lovely ladies.

Jordan and his cancerous tumor.

Us. and those orange shoelaces were genius. They're like...signs that scream "I'm RIGHT HERE!!!" Makes it almost impossible to lose people that way. Nice.

and I just threw this one in. I thought it was nice.

The the four cool kids who are too sheisty to rent a limo, so they carpool.

It rained. and rained. and rained. Ashley and I had the lovely insight to put our jackets in coat check, then decide to ride the Calico Mine Train. This necessitated running to the ride in the rain. Oh, the fun. Also, the dance took forever to get going. And it didn't really get to the level it usually does, at that.

And so the dance ended on a particularly high note. We trekked back to the car, and for the most part knocked out on the drive home. Took Ashley home, said goodnight, headed over to partake in Fat Night with Tree, Emilaaaay, and Sayo. They made good bread and other tasty treats. Thank you, madams. Watched part of Kung Fu Hustle, massaged my thighs, said goodbye to the cool baking kids, headed home.

Planned on doing some stupid teenager things and such, but we were all too damn tired. Ray, Sarah, and Jen came over. We toasted to Jen's turning 18, and bitched about school and all that. Ha. We're lame. And then I slept, and what a nice sleep it was.
________________

I was woken up by a much appreciated text, then got ready to head out on a food adventure. Where?

The City of Culver City. Redundant? Possibly.

Ate at this place:

Chosen by Los Angeles Magazine as the best fried chicken of 2008.

I would have a hard time disagreeing. The chicken was moist, as was the catfish. The batter could have been a bit more seasoned, but it was light, airy, and crispy. Oily, but not overly so. The fries were crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, with a great amount of crunch. The biscuit was melt-in-your-mouth good and went great with some honey. Please, go if you get the chance.

Fat and happy, I wandered outside and into this place: the Wonderful World Art Gallery. Photography was prohibited, so here's a picture of the sign.

They had animation cels and originals from my childhood: Peanuts stuff, Disney, and a couple of paintings done by Dr. Seuss. What a gem in Culver City. I must go back!

And that was the interesting part of my weekend thus far. Fun, fun, fun.

A Very Merry Unbirthday to You!

2009-02-04T21:51:00.000-08:00

and you. and you.

It was Ashley's birthday yesterday, which makes today her unbirthday. Along with everyone else, for that matter.

So I guess the girls were plotting something to surprise Ashley with, and upon hearing said scheme, I kinda tagged along. Oops.

I really don't feel it necessary to recap everything, seeing as Tree already has. So here are the pictures to go along with the story.

Supplies!

Ironically, now that Ashley turned 18, the girls wanted to make a fort. Hm.

Hehe. Forts are fun. I want to make two then wage war! Garrr.

And then I fell asleep in the fort. Everyone decided to cover me with balloons, for whatever reason. Not sure why.

Upon waking up, we went on a balloon-popping spree. Minami tried to save a couple and wrote some farewells on others. But she kept writing "ballon" on them. Haha funny middle schoolers.

Is she closing her eyes? Or is she just super asian?

So yeah. Oh and that Caramel sauce that Sayo has at her house is AMAZING. Well, more like amazing in lowercase letters. Honey is AMAZING. Caramel is merely amazing.

That is all.

Tag. You're it.

2009-02-02T20:48:00.000-08:00

I like the whole 25 fact thing on facebook that's flying around. and the 100 random fact thing. But I don't want to put it on facebook, so I'll stick it here.

1. I ate only chocolate ice cream until I was twelve. I still gravitate towards it.
2. I know more obscure facts about Star Wars than I care to admit.
3. I've had both ear drums rupture within the same year
4. Because of number three, I randomly hear ringing (like those high frequency ringtones)
5. I love good food, but have no problem eating fried beef intestines off of a dirt floor.
6. My stomach is a fraction of its former size thanks to several unhealthy decisions in my recent past
7. I went through a phase where I punched holes in the wall when I was mad
8. Some people get uncomfortable around weapons. I smile.
9. I want to dropkick people who walk slow or block walkways
10. I've slashed myself with a knife on several occasions
11. I used to have a crescent moon-shaped scar on my cheek. I wish I still had it.
12. I have nearly drowned on several occasions
13. I have hiked 3 miles in the snow in a pair of jeans, a shirt, and a jacket
14. I sometimes feel like I have to prove to myself that I'm not a girl
15. I have an issue with trying to impress people
16. I've made too many stupid-teenager decisions for me to count
17. I secretly envy people with nice camera lenses
18. I get really happy when I format my memory card
19. I hate 98% of my photography
20. I have issues with jealousy and moving on
21. Deco markers make me happy
22. I'm secretly extremely lazy. Or maybe not so secretly, says Sabrina.
23. I have an obsession with cultural masks
24. I want to make up symbolism in art just to confuse people.
25. I have a hard time getting comfortable.

Banana pants prevail

2009-02-01T21:16:00.000-08:00

When you don't care for football, you pick your Super Bowl team for weird reasons. The Steelers had banana pants...therefore we rooted for them. Yeah.

But anyways, today was all about the food. Had dim sum for lunch, got fat and happy.

pork shumai

Fried shrimp ball thingy that tasted awesome

Eventually headed over to Tree's to watch the Super Bowl...ate some tailgate food. Finished off the first quarter, headed over to Mikie's Super Bowl shindig to get some more food.

Oh baby...chocolate mousse layered with brownies. Glorious.

Went back to Tree's...fell asleep on top of other people, woke up in time to catch the end of the (fail) Transformers trailer and the awesomeness of the last 5 minutes.

But honestly, I don't find the Super Bowl all that interesting. It's more for the commercials and an excuse to eat a ridiculous amount of food. Huh.

Party..? Sure!

2009-02-01T10:24:00.000-08:00

Yesterday started off with me waking up ridiculously early for a Saturday to meet Ashley at Farmer's Market. Twas a nice way to start off the morning. Mmmm bacon-wrapped hot dogs for breakfast :D

and there were these limes that are supposedly good for your throat that Ashley told me to get because I have a sore throat...but then I suddenly didn't feel like eating fruit of any kind. Didn't get em. Go figure. and my throat's still a bit sore. Shoulda listened to her.

But it was good that I woke up early, so I could finish FAFSA. and Princeton's special little financial aid thing...because they think they're so cool that CSS and FAFSA aren't good enough for them. Poopieheads. Yeah...that was the entire rest of my afternoon until I had to get ready for Brian's surprise 18th birthday party!

We brought him over to Mikie's to take him out for "dinner" to some random place. We realized that the four of us don't take many pictures together (yeah right) so we did. Thank you Lightscoop!

Awkward Moose!

I enjoy headlocking Brian.

and another happy sappy group picture...

We double-blindfolded the kid and threw him into Mikie's car, then drove around a bit to throw him off.

Parked in the Del Amo parking lot, walked him over to the Torrance Marriott. He had nooo idea where he was. Oh, and don't have blindfolded people jaywalk on busy streets. It's asking for trouble. Who would've guessed?

He heard Japanese people talking so he was convinced we were at a sushi restaurant...walked him into one of the banquet rooms in the back...and then...

SURPRISE!

I didn't get any pictures of it because I was busy pushing him into the room. Oh well. But he did get all teary-eyed. Awww. His madre's so happy :D

We ate. And ate. And ate. And there was this kickass DJ and an open dance floor. Oh baby. The birthday boy took his lovely girlfriend out and waltzed her around the room. Or tried to.

And then...present time! Meanwhile...Larry and I snuck off into the back and grabbed a handful of cake each. When the poor guy least expected it...

BAM! Owned in the face.

Oh and here's part of the present that Mikie, Saaya, and I made him. Kinda cool, I guess.

and since it was his 18th...we HAD to give him some lapdances, right? Dance party? Yeah. We all did. and I mean ALL.

Then we lifted his chair...did the whole Jewish thing that I have no idea what it's called. Threw him out of said chair for fun...he landed pretty hard.

Then the DJ turned up the music. And we danced. and danced. The South kids scared the nice little CAMS kids, I think. Yeah. Makes me really excited for Black and White! But my legs are out of shape. Gotta work on that.

Hmm...fun night. Very fun night. The DJ was the best that I've seen in some time. If I do manage to get a grad party together with some people, I'm getting that guy.

Mulan, Shan Yu, Mushu, and Yzma.

2009-01-29T22:26:00.000-08:00

What a tough day of finals. Making a contact sheet for photo, playing Jenga and Clue in Yearbook, eating enchiladas at Mikie's, then going to Disneyland. What is a poor boy like me to do with this intense workload?

I kid. Today was epic. Disneyland with some close friends? Yeah.

I hate to bore you all with the details, but this is more for me to remember in the future.

From the beginning, the guy at the Annual Pass center was awesome. He gave us permission to tickle anyone who didn't smile. People like that make me laugh.

So it was hot...the first attraction we did was run onto Splash Mountain. Five minute wait? Pretty much. The ride was bumpier than usual. Pain in the butt. Oh, and Alex wins the (nonexistent) contest for most epic ride photo.

With our wet jeans and sloshy feet, we formed the Squishy Feet Club! Mikie was shunned. Randomly headed over to the Pooh ride...tripped out. Major trip, man. Watch out for those heffalumps.

Sloshed over to The Blue Bayou where we had reservations. Enjoyed the meal thoroughly, after a back-and-forth of whether Ashley should get gumbo or salad. She got salad. Figures. Those darn healthy people. The table was filled with Montecristos and Mikie's shrimp thingy. Yummy. Oh, and before I forget, Alex is "in love with a flamboyant gay singer." His words, not mine.

and my Mint Julep...

Ernie, the blues guitarist, was playing from the balcony of the plantation house. Sandwiches for soul food, jazziness for some earfood. Awesome.

We got some to-go bags and Alex wrote our names on them. Spelling fail.

and since Ashley's birthday's coming up, I called in advance and arranged for some chocolate mousse birthday goodness. We tried to sing Happy Birthday and failed somewhat.

we left, fat and happy (and with significantly lighter wallets) and went to Indy, where we had gotten fastpasses some time before. The ride broke down, so we headed over to California Adventure. In the meantime, Mikie decided to sneak off and get Ashley a birthday pin, which resulted in 1000 or so people wishing her a happy birthday.

Off to the Tower of Terror we went, to fulfill a dream that I had of riding it a few nights ago. Not a dream as an aspiration, but something that my mind thought about during my sleep. Don't get them confused. Oh. WOW your MOM's a COW. MOO.

Next, we went to the Animation Building, possibly my favorite thing at DCA. We attempted to draw Winnie the Pooh and for the most part failed. Then we took some quizzes in Beast's Library, which explain the title.
Cogsworth: "Hello! Up here!" 3. 2. 1. *snap*

then we sang and acted in Ursula's Grotto, laughing all the while. The park closed, so we walked back on over the Disneyland. Mikie and I took Ashley and Alex into the reopened castle walkthrough. So puuurty. Then we walked around Fantasyland and hopped onto the carousel. I really wanted to go on it. Noooo idea why. Freaking cast member wouldn't let me ride backwards.

Right. So then we went to Astro Blasters. Me and Ashley versus Alex and Mikie. Guess who won? Oh, and they owed us a chocolate cake. I got something over a million. Woot.

This game makes my arm sore.

Got some Dole Whips then ate them in line for the Jungle Cruise. Vanquished the terrifying Dole Whip monster. Gar.

The skipper was quite entertaining. Got our daily dose of corniness that I so desired.

Then we headed back to Indy since it was closed earlier in the day. There was an OBEY sticker or two in the queue. Cool.

Rode it once. Enjoyed it. Rode it again. Enjoyed it more.
*spears flying everywhere*
Random guy in car: "Get down! Get down!"
*everyone actually listens*

The second time, we were the last ones in line for the night. Somehow, the girl and her mom we let go in front of us ended up being the last ones on the ride. Which means they got a car to themselves. It was also her birthday, so good for her. Hope she enjoyed it.

And because the park was closing by the time we got out of the ride, there was no one around. So what did Alex and I do? Run around like madmen with our cameras, of course.

The Indy queue. Deserted.

While leaving Adventureland, we all flipped out in the vast expanse that was the empty walkway. Not a soul to be seen. It was as if the park was keeping itself open solely for our own enjoyment. Lovely.

So I sprinted over to the castle, since no one was around it. Except for a security dude who politely moved aside. Sooo happy I got this picture without anyone in it.

Looked towards Tomorrowland. Snapped this shot off for fun.

As we walked down Main Street to end our day of awesomeness, I took one last picture of the park.

and Mikie was nice enough to talk a shot of me and Ashley. I hate pop-up flash.

ahhhh...twas another lovely day. Good food, good company, good music. And how weird to think that we were at school that morning? Hm.

Day 2 of Finals. Kickass.

2009-01-28T17:30:00.000-08:00

So I guess I should've gone to my locker yesterday, but I really had no reason to. Technically, I had no reason to today, either. But I did, just to make sure a certain someone didn't put a dead animal in there or anything. Nope. Just this.

Thanks love. Twas a wonderful way to start my day.

But anyways, back to the school day. Bio was lame as usual...actually managed an A in that class. Talked to a couple people about signing up for Boys'/Girls' State. They'd be missing out...

Went to ASB for an intense final involving games, eating, and bitter goodbyes. But it was also Mrs. Hildreth's birthday, so we bought her a thinking cap since she's doing so much of it on our behalf...

har har.

Had to say goodbye for now to these cool kids, who won't be on ASB second semester. What a shame...

Gonna miss em. Hope I see them around.

But we didn't want to be all mopey and stuff, so we ate. and ate. and ate.

Gooey pizza...

and Kelly's amazing cupcakes that I think I've mentioned at least 20 times by now.

We played Catchphrase (Team 2 owns you in the face). People get pretty intense. Others just can't seem to talk under pressure XD

and, for old time's sake, we played a good number of rounds of Boom-Chicka-Boom-Boom. Ironically, most of ASB can't play it for shit. I guess the mess ups are what make it fun. Johnny busting out some Michael Jackson on us...oh. and you should've seen Jerek. What a beast.

Finished up the food and games, said our goodbyes, went to get some Mama Ramen with these cool kids.

Oh man, and I had just eaten pizza, breadsticks, cupcakes, and cookies, too. But I was still hungry. Shoyu Ramen, fried rice, and gyoza, baby. Yeah.

The bowl of steaming carbs...

and the tasty sides.

Didn't want to go home quite yet, so the three of us sped on over to TAM to get some culture in our heads. Tree had fun with my camera during the drive. Proof:

awkward face.

But the museum had this whole series on LA city streets. For instance, there was a bit on aerial shots of the city with model trees rising from every spot an actual tree would be. Doesn't make sense? Go to the Torrance Art Museum and see for yourself.

Totally Beverly Hills.

Now, it's common knowledge that tilting your head to the right automatically makes art look better. We sought to find the optimum art-viewing pose.

The more you tilt, the better the art looks.

And there are some other exhibits that I don't feel like writing about right now, but just take my word for it when I say they're kinda awesome.

and one last picture of my fellow "art experts."

well that was my day of finals. Difficult, huh?

I'm off to Disneyland tomorrow. Woot.

Day 1 of finals. Over.

2009-01-27T22:43:00.000-08:00

And they sucked. But instead of crying over spilled milk, check out the last remains of fall/winter/California has no seasons. Disgustingly colorful.

And Sabby's awesome cowraser! That's a portmanteau, for all you Lit AP kids.

After the Lit final, Ray managed to stay in this exact position for approximately 1 hour 5 minutes. Or something. Yet he woke up without any marks on his face. How?! I always wake up with awkward indents and creases when I knock out in class...

Our stomachs were growling after we got raped in the ass by the Econ final. Drove over to Wienerschnitzel's as usual, and saw this awesome car in the parking lot. Reminds me of some really bad Lego set name or something.

Ashley brought along a whole buttload of awesome coupons, and Ray, Emilaaay, and I stuffed ourselves silly for exactly ten bucks. Beat that, yo.

And now, on to day two. Good luck kids.

fail, then success!

2009-01-25T22:14:00.000-08:00

So we tried to have a study group today after Ashley and I realized yesterday that the blind cannot lead the blind. We almost got somewhere with our studies, but then we got hungry. And you know how bad studying goes when food's involved. So we hopped into our cars and sped over the Bamboo Song for pho (what else?). I realized that I'm always down for a new adventure or type of food, but when I eat pho, I always get the same thing. Weird, huh? It's like a ritual to get a #1 with no onion, no cilantro. Then fill the thing with Sri Racha. Yummm.

In a burst of spontaneity and the realization that none of us had to be home soon, we ended up heading out to the pier. The beach is always better in the winter. Always.

We scream at the world. We scream at the ocean. But mostly, we just scream.

Now, we really wanted those epic churros that they sell 3 for $5 next to the pearl place, but we were thwarted by this dastardly sign.

We wandered in the cold, laughing at seagulls that couldn't fly to save their lives. Ohhh! And we saw pelicans and chased them. Does anyone have a bucket of pelicans I could borrow?

Anways...we eventually found a churro place that fried em and rolled em in sugar right before our very eyes. Talk about freshness :D

Some fatties. My 30D is shooting at high ISOs better than I remember.

We make attractive faces. Not. Oh, and the autofocus settled on the brightest thing in the frame (the background). Lame.

So this is what we accomplished while trying to study for finals. But you know what? We're seniors. So screw it.

Hope.

2009-01-20T22:48:00.000-08:00

The American people asked for help.

He is our answer.

Not sure what to title this.

2009-01-19T19:27:00.000-08:00

So the lovely three day weekend is drawing to a close. Instead of studying, I blog. What a good student. So yesterday the seniors at church tried to be nice to the freshmen. We totally got shot down. Ouch. So instead, we headed out to the beach and chilled. But I have no pictures. Figures.

Went to Jen's house to make some blankets for soldiers, headed out to eat dinner and saw a pretty sunset. Well, I missed the best of it by a few minutes, but I drove out to Levy Center anyway to snap off a few pictures.

I chase sunsets.

I got home and sat there, enjoying A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man. Interesting book. I like the steam of consciousness thing going on. But the highlight was drinking the tea that Nikki gave me. It smells amazing and fruity, and tastes great, too. I might have to go out and get some for myself.

Monday morning, early. The doorbell rings and Ashley arrives to make pancakes and her awesome bacon. I think I've mentioned her bacon at least a few times over the course of my posts.

I'm terrible at flipping pancakes, but I gave it a shot and didn't fail completely.

Before:

After:

We talked and cooked until Alex arrived, as he had slept in. He missed out on the cooking goodness. So we got the table outside set up and enjoyed a nice breakfast with a gloomy sky and cool breeze. A very nice way to start the day.

Got to watch a part of Independence Day at Alex's. I love it when Will Smith's character drags the dead alien along, cursing it and screaming all the way. Har har.

Went out to grab some pho with Teresa for dinner, and we talked about the future, high school life, and all that normal stuff that I seem to be talking to everyone about. It's just that time of life, I suppose.

I should get back to studying. As should those of you who are reading this. Mainly Sabrina.

But before I do leave, here are some pictures I took for a photo project. Once again, Mr. Shea told us to be "artistic."

Mask.

Hall.

great.

2009-01-18T19:29:00.000-08:00

So I went to Barnes today to pick up a book. I went up to the cashier and he asked "How are you?"
"Great, and you?"
"Great." He put up his hand and I gave him a high five.
"Here's to greatness," says the dude.

Yes. Here's to greatness. The quest for it, the beauty of attaining it. Here's to it all.

Wham! Ouch.

2009-01-18T15:07:00.000-08:00

Well the hole in my eardrum hasn't healed yet, it turns out. And practicing Kendo last week was a mistake. So I sat out the Mori Hai Tournament today and took pictures instead.

The Mori Hai tournament is in commemoration of the late Torao Mori-sensei, the man who pretty much is the father of Kendo in Southern California. He was also the head sensei at my Kendo dojo. Strangely enough, he was also my naginata-sensei's instructor in the U.S. It's funny because I'm training directly under two of his few remaining students. It's as if his teachings branch out then start to combine with me. That's assuming I'm not too thickheaded to take it in, of course.

But yeah, on to the pictures. I am somewhat proud of these. Oh, and if you're shooting with a pro lens, people instantly get out of your way.

Getting whacked on the head...

Awkward position...

This girl's from my dojo. She got 3rd in her division I think...

In the middle of a match, one of the shinpan passed out. Still not sure what happened. Dehydration? Stroke? Hopefully nothing too serious...

I just like this one. I'm becoming a fan of focusing on something in the background rather than the foreground.

My favorite of the day. The guy on the right is Park-sensei. What a beast.

Well that was fun. But I'm not all that big on action shots. For one, I'm a bit slow and have trouble with the timing. Two, I'm sort of an artsy fartsy guy. I think.

Shhhh!

2009-01-17T23:35:00.000-08:00

You know how you have those days where you do something so interesting that you just sit there, sort of awestruck? Yeah, today was almost one of those days.

First off, I'm proud to say that I have my baby back. I headed out to Samy's to pick up my repaired 30D. Damn, I missed that thing. The one that Samy's gave me as a free rental was nice, but it lacked my kickass neckstrap and eyecup. Plus, it was missing the dents that I've put into the thing when I crashed into the wall in front of Mueller's (on several occasions, mind you). Oh, and Samy's extended my warranty by a year. Now that's service.

Anyways, I scoped out this restaurant/deli called Canter's since it was up the street from the camera store. They had some nice mini chocolate chip cookies, but I had just eaten lunch so I didn't stick around too long.

Went back home, only to head out to LA with Nikki a few hours later. The most fun part of the drive to LA is definitely talking to her. We have very interesting conversations. Very interesting. So after my GPS deleted all of my restaurant addresses, we decided to just go to Canter's and eat there. It was alright, I suppose. I got a chocolate shake (which I'd been craving all day) and a Montecristo. The Reuben looked amazing, though. Next time.

Lotsa bits of ice in this thing.

Montecristo goodness. Tasty, but not as good as the one at the Blue Bayou. Alex, Ashley, Mikie, and Saaya all know what I'm talking about. No one does it like Disney.

After enjoying a lovely meal, we drove over to the Billy Wilder Theater at the Hammer Museum in Westwood. Turns out some rich guy gave a ridiculous grant to the museum to create a theater. They did.

Those are the actual light fixtures on the ceiling and wall.

We watched a double feature of silent films: His Nibs and While New York Sleeps, preceded by a short called The Four Orphans. It's quite fun to see how exaggerated the actors perform, seeing as they cannot convey their emotions with words. Also, it must have been easy to write dialogue when there was none.

Silent films are quite interesting, to say the least. I think I've found another vice of mine. Oh, and the theater had some awesome bright red chairs.

As we drove out of the parking structure, we were met by a stampede of bikers at 11 at night. I have no idea what the deal was, but I'm guessing UCLA had some random event. Those crazy college kids.

It was amusing...some cops drove up to the intersection and angrily yelled at the bikers to obey traffic laws and to not act like assholes in general. Har har.

There you have it - another day in my life. Thanks for stopping by.
Oh, and they're playing old movies from the 20s and 30s until mid-February. Do yourself a favor and check it out, please. You might benefit from it.

Brain drain.

2009-01-17T00:09:00.000-08:00

After taking pictures for the whole day, I can't think straight anymore. Like, seriously. My brain hurts. It's tired. I'm in for a good night of sleep.

So my days are melding together. I have memories of random little funny moments. Like this pen! Thank you Korean banks, for knowing how to write street names!

And I must say, Yam Yam is amazing. Oh, the lovely childhood memories revisited with cracker sticks and chocolate. Good times.

And I think there was a Bio lab sometime in my past week. Mueller had me take pictures. I'm gonna push for some extra credit. No way I'm doing it for free for her.
Another teacher maybe, but not Mueller.

Oh and for the Council Mixer, we were making toy decorations. This is Kelly's lifesize Barbie replica! That's attractice. Good job Johnny.

And I took Varsity Soccer pictures with Pedro's amazing uber sexy lens. I want it. Like, now. Actually the one with IS would be cool too, but beggars can't be choosers. Don't want to sort through a million sports pictures, so I'll post this random one I took of the sunset instead. I had dust on my lens again.

As I was walking to the gym to shoot basketball, I saw Quione and some other guys practicing dance. Being the creeper that I am, I asked to take pictures of them looking cool. Here are the results.

I had lotsa fun taking those, by the way. They were quite funny to be around.

After some amusing texts and interesting conversations about perception and consciousness, I sat down and started to write this blog. I just finished.

Possibly artsy.

2009-01-14T22:28:00.000-08:00

I had to shoot a few rolls of film for a photo project. My directions? Shoot something "artistic." So I got my sheet of velvet, set up a couple of desk lamps, and had a mini photo shoot. While going through my film, I decided to use my dslr too. I mean, I had the whole shoot set up already. Why not?

I have a thing for equipment. Particularly martial arts stuff. Even more particularly things that are well worn and have seen much use. So what do I do with my equipment? Take pictures of it. Yeah.

My bokuto

The shinai that I've had since I first started Kendo...

I will never stop shooting the crap out of this thing. It's one of my favorite subjects to use for shoots.

This is supposedly symbolic. Guess what it says.

And this? I shot it just because it made me laugh. Har har har.

Desk lamps are the best. Black backdrops and dark rooms are also nice. It would be awesome to have my own dedicated photo studio to mess around in. Maybe one day.

Mix things up

2009-01-14T22:15:00.000-08:00

So because I refuse to update daily, I have a few random moments that I must catch up on.

Why does ramyun taste better at night? Enjoyed this at somewhere around 11 pm. Yum.

And here's a tangerine that Justin owed Tree in Bio. See? It even has her name on it! Talk about marking your territory...

So anyways...last night was the El Segundo ASB Mixer. While driving to the place, we somehow managed to get on the other side of the airport. Perhaps we went a little too far..? The official reason is because I wanted to see the pretty airport lights at night (which are quite pretty, btw)

Mixer food was quite tasty. Yay for CPK! Pizza on top of bbq chicken salad and fettuccine alfredo.

I present to you a portion of the men of ASB. How studly. Not.

Another decent chunk of the cool kids on ASB. woooo...

And yes, we're all supposed to look like tennis players...

Here's Faith's painting, as usual. I lost count of the days and I'm too lazy to go back to my past posts and look it up. So Day...6? 7? Either way, it's really shaping up.

I developed my first rolls of film in some time, and while waiting for the damned things to rinse, I took pictures. Enjoy.

And let's see...while sitting around in Bio, we all decided to go on a Wienerschnitzel adventure after school. Yum. But DK was too damn tall to fit in my car.

And Tree had shiny pants on her head, courtesy of Sabrina. What strange kids.

Well we took advantage of Ashley's advice and checked out the four for $4 deal. Here's the result, minus the soda that was in my hand.

And the cool kids stuffing their faces...

And to top the day off, meet Milo! Why would an elephant be named Milo? Why not Milo? I don't know answer to either of those questions. Milo has taken residence on Ashley's hand, and seems to enjoy it.

It's not the camera.

2009-01-12T23:35:00.000-08:00

Someone at school once said "It's not the person. It's the camera." I hope they were suffering a case of instantaneous dyslexia, or I would have to slap them upside the head.

It's not the camera. It's the person behind it.

As dslrs decrease in cost and enable more people to buy them, there's a growing trend towards adopting the moniker of "photographer." Whatever the hell that's supposed to mean.

Carrying a dslr around doesn't make you a better picture taking person. But it does look cool. For what it's worth, I took some of my best pictures with an old 35mm Kodak from the sixties and a crappy Canon point-and-shoot.

I have lots more to say on this subject, like enough to fill a few pages. But I feel that I should put that off until I myself improve my picture taking abilities. Otherwise, I have no right to say this kind of stuff.

Cupcakes!

2009-01-12T22:24:00.000-08:00

So today ended up being an extension of my weekend. Scott's off to Boston until Spring Break, so we decided to go out to eat after I was done with school.

But that's for later. This eraser that Ashley had in second grade amused me (and her, apparently). It's a funny little saying written in gel pen. Ah, gel pens. Remember when everyone had those in elementary school? Fun times...

Anyways, my days seem to be filled with cupcakes. I end up eating them with surprising regularity. Weird, no? It was Janelle's birthday in ASB, so, as usual, K-squared made some bomb cupcakes. Devil's foodcake with cream cheese frosting :D

And the progression of Faith's painting...Day 5.

So school got out, I finally have my car back, and I drove up to Scott's to say bye. We ended up going out to eat, as usual. Pinkie's BBQ is over on PCH and 5th Avenue. It was tasty, but I wasn't all that impressed. They do have some really good but ridiculously sweet pink lemonade, though.

Here's my tri-tip sandwich drowned in bbq sauce. The sauce was kinda lame. Pretty unremarkable. Meat was good, though. Nice pink fringe from the smoking. Oh, and the mac and cheese was great. Corn bread was eh. Why is it that barbecue places tend to have kickass mac and cheese..?

Little Raymond and Esther joined us, got fat, then we parted ways. Scott was craving cupcakes so we trekked out to Beverly Hills to gorge on some ridiculously overpriced ($3.25 each) cupcakes. It's more for fun that anything else.

See? Rich people even package their cupcakes in neat little boxes! :P

They're known for their red velvet, but I'm partial to the chocolate marshmallow. I was so excited to eat it that I didn't even take a decent picture of it.

So yeah, that was my Monday. But it felt like a Saturday, which is just going to make this week feel like shit. Oh well...El Segundo ASB mixer tomorrow! :D

twas a good day.

2009-01-11T22:06:00.000-08:00

My neck is pulsing right now. I'm not sure why, and it sort of scares me seeing as I have a history of pulling my neck. But I digress.

I headed out to museum hop with Sarah and Jen today...hit up some food places, got fat, and generally enjoyed a lovely day. We started it off with lunch at The Apple Pan, which was quite tasty. Had a Hickoryburger, fries, orange soda, and we all split some delicious apple pie. I'll prove it.

The Hickoryburger has a mix of ketchup and barbecue sauce that's alright, I guess.

The sodas come in the coolest cone/cone carriers ever. I'm trying to cut down, but this made it impossible not to get.

And a slice of pie, which was split three ways...

The Apple Pan definitely has a worn-in feel to it. It just reeks of vintage-old-awesomeness. I feel very...comfortable there. Oh, and the server guy was awesome. If you took a particularly large bite, he would just put a napkin in front of you XD Pretty funny guy.

Feeling content, we drove over The Getty Center and acted all artistic and stuff. Oh, and taking pictures is contagious.

There was a temporary exhibition on Carleton Watkins, one of the premier photographers of California in the mid-1800s. He used this massive large format camera which I would expect to be a pain in the ass to take into the field.

His photographs were quite amazing, considering the technology that was available to him. Seriously...check it out if you like photography and have some free time.

The gift shop of the exhibit had one of those poseable wooden figures with some film on him. Cool.

We ventured through the rest of the museum, and this particular ridiculously awesome frame caught my eye.

Got lost, got found, saw some interesting things. Oh! and we acted like art experts, like in Lit AP. I actually got some lady to consider my idea that a statue of a goddess was actually a metaphor for baby-killing. I got a thoughtful "hmm" out of her. Success.

Went into the gardens, snapped some shots of the scenery. Quite pretty, really.

We sat there on the grass, talking about things that make you think some more, drawing you into a trap of thoughtfulness that leaves equally thoughtful silences.

Then, we left.

After Sarah's car almost overheated and we got trapped in the middle of an intersection, we ended up at LACMA to see the Vanity Fair Portraits for my second time.

Photography's technically not allowed in there, but I snapped a few shots to give you guys a feel for it. For the love of...just go. Please. You won't regret it.

The pictures in there are sublime. Really, they are something else.

After leaving the gallery (reluctantly) we headed over to BCAM and the Ahmanson Building. Here are some pictures that I got in trouble for taking multiple times.

I love Andy Warhol, but seriously? Art?

This was kinda cool...a giant twisting sculpture that you can walk through.

Outside LACMA...

I have a thing for symmetry.

We left LACMA, sufficiently artified, then went to get dinner. By this point, I could eat a cow. I was hungry. Headed down to Little Ethiopia and went to Rosalind's, which is supposedly the best place to eat in the area. I might have to agree.

It called to me.

We ate and ate until we could eat no more. Damn, I love Ethiopian food.

I have no idea what this stuff is called...but it's a #1 and a #8.

So how this dish works is that it's served with these spongy pancake-like things that you use to scoop up bits of meat and sauce. No forks required. It's really fun, and surprisingly efficient.

And with that, we drove over to some ice cream place that Sarah was raving about over by the ESPN Zone on Figueroa. Check out the Hokey Pokey. It's butterscotch and honey ice cream with nuts, and is ridiculously awesome.

And with that, we drove home, with paintings and sculptures dancing through our heads. Oh, what a fun day it was.

Oh, and my neck stopped pulsing :D

The Villa

2009-01-11T01:13:00.000-08:00

So I split up my post into two parts, in case you didn't notice. The last post was for Friday, this is for Saturday. Make sense?

So yeah...made a spontaneous trip to the Getty Villa with mi madre because I had nothing else to do until going out to the movies in the evening. After seeing the beauty of the Villa, I want to go to Italy. Say, at this exact moment. That would be nice. From here on out, I will keep my comments to a minimum. I'll let the pictures do the talking. I might put up a part 2 to the Villa pictures if I get a chance to sort through my pictures a bit more thoroughly. Maybe.

The long pond thingy, from both ends.

I guess the Greeks and Romans had a thing for patterns...there were definitely a lot of interesting ones. In this place, the best pictures aren't in front of you. You gotta look down...

An ancient Roman vessel depicting Godzilla terrorizing the temple of Jupiter...

I'll have to go to the Villa around sunset sometime soon. I feel that it would be breathtaking...but it would be awesome to be so well known as a photographer, that I just ask to be let in after hours, and they agree. One day, someday.

oh, and did I mention that for lunch I went to Farmer's Market and got a bacon-wrapped hot dog? That was pretty good, too. Alas, the couple that had the brisket-topped hot dog with barbecue sauce wasn't there. I hope they return soon. I truly miss their gastronomical creation.

Well I'm off to visit for museums and eat stuff in a few hours. Til then...

Cheers.

Late, as usual.

2009-01-11T01:08:00.000-08:00

So it's a bit late, but here's a few moments from last Friday.

It was unusually foggy in the morning. As we turned to walk down the K wing, Sabrina noticed that the hallway looked particularly pretty. I dunno...there's just something about it.

I think Faith's pretty much finished with her painting. Here's Day 4.

Some other random stuff happened, then Sabrina, Ray, and I went out for pho. Yum. It's funny...whenever Ray and I go out to get something to eat, our conversations end up being about more food. So yeah. The three of us talked about food and movies. Life was good.

We went to Sayo's, and I finished my photo project there. If I have anything good to show for it later, I'll post something. Then I went to Kendo, got bruised, and celebrated the first official practice of the year with some oshiruko! Nom nom nom.

And that, my friends, was my Friday.