Plip. Plop. Splash.

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?

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.

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!

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.

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

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!

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.