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Sometimes life is such a mess that you don’t experience one night without dreams (mostly bad) for a few weeks but you just want everything to be easier and so in your favorite one so far, you dream of something as simple and lovely as holding hands and walking around with someone you find pleasing to be around. 
And that’s when you know you’ve lost it. HA.
I’m so behind the times these days. I can’t remember everything that’s happened this month, but I’ll try to recap. First of all, I have been so lazy this whole quarter. It is a little upsetting how much time I am capable of wasting and how little I seem to be learning. I’m just hoping that I get out without failing any classes, otherwise I will be failing at life, because I won’t finish in time like I’m planning to. Anyway, here we go:
The roomies and I attended Spring Sing this year on Friday, May 2nd, but the tickets were not easy to come by. We seemed to have lagged during the sale of the first wave of tickets and before we knew it, they were all sold out. During the second release, none of us were able to go because we all had class during that time. But the week of the event, word on the street was that they were secretly releasing some more tickets on the day of. I went over an hour early to wait in line just in case. Fortunately, there was only one other person, but we were unsure about whether or not there were really tickets coming out that day. The guy in front of us, Michelle, and I waited and waited and then the manager of the Central Ticketing Office came out and told us it was legit. We were going to Spring Sing! YEAHH. So Michelle and I got four tickets total in this location that didn’t seem all that close but whatever, we had tickets! When we got there, though, we found out that those seats were FREAKIN’ AWESOME. There were no giant heads to block our views and it was pretty close. The only thing that sucked was that people kept walking in front of us because they were too lazy to trek up the stairs and back down again. I guess I don’t blame them, because that could be pretty tiresome.
The acts were really good this year and I must say, I didn’t hate the sorority/frat acts this year. They seemed to have cut back on the annoyingness. Company was alright. There were one or two skits that weren’t particularly funny. I liked last year’s stuff a lot better, but some of their skits were quite clever. “The Hill” seemed to have caught some attention in the media, according to my friend, and some of my more favored skits were the musical numbers, even though there seemed to be an abundance of people who couldn’t quite hit the right notes half the time in comparison to last year. I’m not hating on them; singing isn’t easy. I pretty much liked all the acts, except one of the a capella groups didn’t sit well with me. Their constant yelling made me cringe a little, but the ScatterTones got a well deserved win singing “Always Be My Baby” by Mariah Carey. My favorite group act was 3:26. They did a really good combo of different sounds and styles of music. One of the most exciting parts of the show was when Lionel Richie came out to receive the Gershwin Award. He’s pretty awweesome.
The day after that, the roomies and I attended the Tau Theta Pi formal to support our real hat, Meeshella. It was a fancy party at the Radisson Hotel near LAX and we probably spent a fourth of our time there in the hallway because this couch area was really cute, so of course we had to take pictures there. A lot of them.
As I mentioned previously, I got a bicycle. If you haven’t already seen it in my Flickr badge, here it is again. It is a little frustrating sometimes because it’s so heavy for a folding bike, but I’m not totally accustomed to it yet. I think it’ll get easier over time as I get more muscular. Puhaha. It’s not very clean yet, but my genius Jesse and I discovered the magic of aluminum and lemons when we started cleaning it one weekend. If you ever have rust problems, lemons and aluminum are the way to go!
Last, last Wednesday, Whitey and the Orientals did a reunion show at Hyperion Tavern, except without the original Whitey and maybe a couple of new Orientals. haha. We played a few songs and then called it a night because the wait to play is always so long and it was getting purty late. ‘Twas fun, though, and I think Michelle and I probably scared most of the people in the car.
On the 18th, I came back to school early, because I had call time for my gospel choir concert at 2pm and I was running extremely late. I apparently was the only one who didn’t get the memo that call time was changed to 3pm, but lucky for me, that was the time I arrived and I was even a few minutes early. The concert went awesome, but because I showed up to the actual show a little late, I had nowhere to stand. Some nice people were friendly enough to scoot in a little so I could get some standing room on the riser, but I had to keep checking where my feet were to make sure I didn’t rock out so hard that I fell off.
Looking very frumpy in my concert attire that I was not particularly proud of and did not bother to look at in the mirror since I was running late to my call time, I could’ve cared less about who saw me in it when we stopped by Ralphs on our way home for a couple boxes of ice cream, but when I arrived at our pitch black apartment to find an ecclectic group of people yelling “Surprise!” at me, I briskly headed to my room to change, because knowing my roommate, there was going to be photographic evidence. Even though we almost always have a surprise in store for every birthday, for some reason it still comes as a surprise. I’d say we’re pretty slick party planners. Although it was not the video game costume party we originally planned but didn’t end up throwing due to some unscheduled conflicts, it was just as nice and my friendly neighborinos lent us Rockband to disturb all the other neighbors with. I sang and played, enjoying the company and ignoring the fact that I had lots of homework. I think it was well worth it. Thanks everyone who came. My only birthday wish this year is to find a nice British boyfriend when I go to Europe. Please help me make my wish come true!
That’s about all that’s been going on as of late. I watched a couple of movies this past weekend, which included Sicko and 27 Dresses. I also saw Atonement recently. Totally not the new Titanic. Whoever said that is mad! More about movies later. Also hung out with some old friends. Yays. I have to call jury duty now to tell them they’re idiots for summoning me again after I already served my civil duty barely two months ago.
And by the way, HENRY VS. GIO! AHH! My allegiance lies with Henry, since he won my heart from the start, but I think Betty’s going to pick Gio, because Henry is too perfect for her and he’s leaving her for me anyway. Gio would provide a better balance in the relationship because she and Henry are too cute and safe, while Gio is more adventurous and spontaneous. Of course, all stupid girls go for the bad boy, so I wouldn’t be that surprised if she went for Gio. I’m more into the nerdy, nice type, though, so screw that!
…being alive, being a girl, being a guy, being in love, just celebrate life. On Thursday, same-sex marriages were legalized in California, which is reason for celebration. It’s been time for a change for quite a while now, but there will always be people who will be against it. Just like there are people who can’t see past race or socioeconomic status or hair color or being an emo kid. In light of the celebration, I will disclose this little known fact that shows just how sheltered I am. When I first started college, I didn’t know what was meant by “marriage equality” and I thought it sounded so stupid, like married people wanted equal treatment or something. It didn’t make any sense to me. Yeah, I totally live in a bubble. Anyway, I don’t think same-sex marriages violate “the sanctity of marriage.” Any couple who is lucky enough to be in love should be able to express their commitment to one another. True, physically, same-sex couples are incapable of having children, which nay-sayers feel is a sign that it’s not “right,” but who’s to say that hetero couples are better or more responsible when raising children? I don’t think gay marriages are right or wrong, but I think they deserve the same rights as everyone else.
By the way, my tongue hurts. I think I burned it or bit it but now it’s got one of those little bumps. Grosss. Just thought I’d share that with you.
By the other way, I forgot to add this because my tongue was bugging me so much when I wrote this post: I think it’s really cool that people can effect change when they really believe in something!
Last week in choir, my director invited a friend from the Gospel music industry and named Darius Brooks, who is a renown writer, singer, accompany-er, and probably everything else in the industry. He was pretty much the coolest person I’ve ever been in the presence of. He somehow managed to tie singing this particular genre of music to everything in life without turning it preachy, which is what I especially liked about him. He was really, really cool, because he was so excited about everything and emitted this glee that I can hardly describe. He was just such a delight to be around, because you could tell he did everything with his heart and celebrated any hint of effort put forth by others in the biggest ways possible, usually by giving them high fives and saying the word “awesome.” Mr. Brooks was quite a character, falling all over the place with joy, reminiscent of slapstick characters you see in old TV shows and such. His message to us that day was that it is not about talent but about giving it your all and to try to have fun and enjoy whatever you do, because if you don’t even try, you’re just being ignorant. And if you do try and still don’t like it, then don’t do it! He makes it so simple.
Not only was he great because he was so positive about everything, delivered awesome life lessons, and put on a one-man show, but he was also a super great singer. That guy’s voice can melt hearts, mang. He taught us a few songs, some of them I believe were his own. I especially loved when he was demonstrating how attitude and appearance affect the way an audience would perceive the message of the music, because one of his examples was like some sort of gangster lean. haha.
I am most likely the only member of that choir who is not religious, so it’s always a little weird for me, but I have always liked Gospel music because of the way it is sung and the way it makes people feel when singing it, not because of the content. I got a lot out of Mr. Brooks guest directing, because he made me feel like I am not necessarily singing this to praise a higher being but instead I can just sing to praise life and all its wonders. Yee!
I got absolutely nothing done this weekend besides my FAFSA. I hate filling out the FAFSA because it’s at such an inconvenient time. It’s nearing finals and my parents haven’t done their taxes yet, and knowing them, answering simple tax questions turns into an argument. That’s just how my family is; we all have amazingly short fuses. This year, I just tried to get through it as quickly as possible, so the yelling would cease a little faster.
On Friday, my sister was too sick to go to work but not too sick to go shoppang! I had nothing to do, so I followed her to Walgreens to pick up her drugs and we didn’t have any plans the rest of the day so we decided to hit the town–Old Town Pasadena, that is. Woot! We stopped by Jamba Juice to get her a Coldbuster and then went off to Urban Outfitters. Wasn’t much there, so we went to the bestest store in Old Town, Forever21. Normally I just walk around in there aimlessly, sort of glancing but barely, but we were in need of some cheer so we tried on a bunch of clothes. I wanted to look for a dress for my birthday and I tried on a couple nice ones. One of the ones I grabbed wasn’t the look I’m going for, but when I tried it on, I fell in love with it. Unfortunately, it was the only one I saw and it was too big. I was very determined to find another one, so I looked throughout the whole store–all two giant stories of it. I couldn’t find it, so we asked some employees and this one girl, my savior, found a smaller one for me. I was practically skipping to the fitting room. I think the only time I don’t dread shopping is with my sister. She’s just great to shop with. Oh how I love cute dresses. It’s rare for me to find an occasion to actually wear them, but when that occasion comes, you know I’ll be prepared! And yeah, my sister bought some goodies too. hahah.
Saturday afternoon, we traveled to the faraway land of the County of Orange. OoooOooh. There was a little fashion show going on in OC at the Art Institute, so we tried to dress up and still ended up being underdressed. The reason we went was to watch Everybody Else, which was a really awesome, intimate little concert. They played after the runway show on the runway, so during the last couple songs, the lead singer told everyone to get up and go crazy so all the boppers (and us…haha) bum rushed the stage and got all up in his grill. it was pretty scary because I don’t think that runway was meant for so many people and I kept getting scared I’d fall of since it’s sort of small. I felt pretty claustrophobic in the crowd. I can’t imagine what he must feel like, especially because some of those girls were stanky. After the show ended, all the high schoolers ran around giving the band hugs and taking pics and getting autographs. Meanwhile, I helped my sister nab some souvies. hehehe. She wanted to get them autographed but I made her stop because it was too shady. After she settled on not getting the stuff signed, we drove to Sprinkles to get some cupcakes, because she really wanted some and I had never had them. I must say, they are quite delicious but very rich and almost sickening. haha. We didn’t really have appetites after that and ended up eating dinner really late.
Lazy Sunday, my fam and I went to eat dimsum. I got a few things done, packed, and then went to fly my fish kite!!! I’ve been waiting to fly that baby since I bought it in China over the summer! We walked over to the track across from our house and flew for a while, probably an hour or so. We made the fish dance and bob to the music we brought with us on our phones. It was pretty great. I love that something so simple can bring about so much calm and glee. Watching the kite soar so high made me wish I could be a kite sometimes. haha. It reminded me of this Chinese movie called The Promise, which I didn’t really watch but I saw the part with the human kite and thought it was sort of funny. My sister said it wouldn’t be that great though, because I’d be hanging on my wall most of the year, waiting for that perfect windy day. Boo. Anyway, flying kites is sort of like fishing from the sky. haha. It’s really an art form. I guess I can understand why people like to go fishing, but I don’t really want to try because I do not enjoy the stench that comes with it. This analogy wouldn’t work as well if I had bought the other kite that I wanted, which was this even bigger one with one of those scary Chinese masks on it. haha.
Overall, my weekend was loverly. And I came back to my loverly roomies. I really want to wear my new dress. Someone invite me somewhere dress-worthy!
PS I planted some strawberries and radishes today.
PPS Thursday was like the highlight of my life because there was free Chipotle in Westwood. <3
I’M ENROLLING IN GOSPEL CHOIR TODAY! WOOOO!
I love winter, but it seems that this is the time of the year I am saddest, even with all the craziness going on. Here’s what would make life simpler. By the way, I went iceskating last night in Pershing Square. I’ve always wanted to iceskate at the Rockefeller in NY, which I thought I might be able to do with the roommates, but lame things happened and that stupid Virgin Airlines deal played some sort of game with our hearts, so we will not be going. When my cousin told me there was an outdoor rink in downtown LA, I figured it’d be somewhat similar. I’m sure it really isn’t, but it was still fun. haha. The rink is rather tiny with ice that’s difficult to skate on, and there are kids flying across the ice left and right, but it was still an experience to be had. I liked their version of “resurfacing” though. There was this little boxy contraption that this guy drove around the ice in order to get all the mushy ice off. Basically, it was a tiny snow plow. He would dump the ice in some convenient location for the other guys to shovel out of the rink. After getting all of that out of the way, he let down this towel hanging off the end of the machine and ran it over the entire rink. I was blindsided by the shininess of the surface, as I tend to be distracted by shiny things, and did not realize how bumpy it was until I got on. Luckily, there was no falling (not by me, at least), and we (my sister, my older cousin, and I) got to witness my younger cousin’s excitement as he iceskated for the first time. I think he liked it. That makes him sound so young. He’s actually like 17. But yeah, I like iceskating, and I imagine the surface is not too different from frozen-over ponds that have been skated on. We Los Angelians sure know how to rough it.
By the way, I bought myself a telescope the night after Christmas. It fills me with glee! I haven’t set it up yet, but hopefully I will get a chance to soon. Yee!
On Saturday I went to the Orange County and Exposition Center to watch Cirque du Soleil under the Grand Chapiteau! It was the Corteo show and it was soooooo coooooooool, especially because we were like in the fifth row. I’d never been to anything circus-like but this was way cooler than anything circus-y I’ve ever seen on TV or whatever. They did all the typical things you see in cartoons and on TV but with a twist so it was much crazier. They even had little people (who are actually married!) and they were so freaking cute and there was a giant who didn’t do a lot but every show needs a giant. There was one part where this miniature ballerina was in this thing attached to a bunch of giant balloons and she floated around all over the place and she even floated around in the crowd and people got to push her upwards. She and her hubs were in a little Romeo and Juliet skit together and it was so adorable. They also did their own little acrobatic thing and they looked like they were in a small snowglobe because this angel above started sprinkling stuff down on them. The finale was intense because they had those gymnast bars (I don’t know what they’re called.. According to Heren, they are uneven bars) but the tall ones were in a square and there were a bunch of people on them at once and it just looked so crazy. I was always scared they’d hit each other, but they’re professionals, so I guess they’re too cool for that. One of the acts involved a lot of spinning from these cloth strips and a guy and a girl. The girl had really thick, long hair and towards the end he hung off her hair and it made me cringe. At one point during the act, she was hanging from the strips of cloth by her feet and one of her feet came out and I let out a little scream, because I thought she was falling, but it was all part of the show.
I was in awe throughout the show, because everyone is so talented. Every person seems to have a variety of skills. First of all, everyone seems to be an acrobat, aside from the ringmaster and the giant (but who knows, maybe they can do all that too). Then they each come out with some other crazy skill. Along with all that spinning and arching and hair stretching that one girl does, she can also do tightrope walking…on her toes, on a unicycle, covered in hulahoops, upwards at a slant, you name it! Even the ringmaster’s got special skills. He is the best whistler I’ve ever heard and he seriously sounds like a bird or something. You see a lot of the same people throughout the show and they’re always doing something different. It’s so amazing! I was always at the edge of my seat because everything they did was so crazy and I’d always be nervous for them, but they’re so precise! I also kept wondering throughout the show if they ever got dizzy because they do a whole lot of spinning. There’s one act where these people spin around and around in these giant rings. I know I get dizzy just from spinning a couple times..or reading in the car. I don’t know how they do it.
I really liked the music for the show and everything was so happy yet sad because the story is about a guy who dreamt of his own funeral. I don’t think they mentioned his name, so I just call him Corteo, even though that probably isn’t his name. On the website they just call him the Dead Clown. It’s amazing how they think up these themes and acts and such. My sister and I were saying that whoever comes up with all these shows has to have been high. The sets were really nice and decorative and my sister and I each got in trouble for taking pictures of the curtain with our phones before the show even started. Sigh. The most intense part of that night, though, was when we sprinted from the exit of the tents to the car. It’s my sister’s method of not getting stuck in traffic. We got out pretty quick, I must say.
I’ll post up a picture of our “costumes” soon. I’m kind of bummed I don’t get to go trick-or-treating anymore. I’m always a fan of free chocolate. Maybe I’ll just buy a bag for myself. It’ll be cheap within the next couple days. haha.
So some of my family members are coming from China tonight! I’m pretty excited for them because they’ve never been here and my cousin is going to stay behind after his parentals leave. I’m not sure if he’s living with us or my aunt. Probably with my aunt because we’re not really the close-knit family he’s probably used to. Or maybe he’d like that… Anyway, what I’m not excited about is them seeing my room in the state that it’s in. It is probably the worst it’s ever been, especially since I moved my bunk to school so now I only have one layer of bed to put things on and that’s not very space efficient. I think I might have to give up my room for him while his parental units are here, which really sucks because there really isn’t anywhere to put my things, so I’m thinking I have to move more of my stuff to school. I think I’ll bring Chance, my guitar. 
Maybe that’ll force me to learn more than one chord.
So on Monday I was pretty upset for several reasons and I just didn’t want to do anything but get frozen yogurt. I couldn’t get anyone to go with me because everyone was freakin’ busy, so I walked the scary streets of South Central Westwood alone for a WHOLE TWO BLOCKS. It’s really not that scary, but the homeless people and the crazies tend to be concentrated in that specific area, so I was a little scared, but it was so worth it to dodge them and throw my money down the drain for some Pinkberry. This is not a trendwhore-ish move, my friends. It is indulging in a healthy treat of yogurt and fruit, in order to cheer myself up. Wee!
WE HAVE A WORKING REFRIGERATOR!! As of yesterday! YEAH!! Ever since we moved in, the refrigerator hasn’t really been working. My mom got it to be a little colder but it was still not cold enough and I was beginning to get stressed out about our apartment because one by one everything was dying off. The first thing to go was the dishwasher, though that was probably broken long ago. Then went the fridge’s coldness and immediately the disposal met its end, too, or so we thought. Finally we talked to our manager about the fridge (after having found my check bounced. NOOO!) and he said he’d get it fixed. The other things were no big deal to me, but really, how were us college kids going to live without a fridge? That’s just ridiculous. Well, our manager fixed the disposal himself and he got it to work like magic right away. Then someone came for the dishwasher and yesterday morning our new fridge came! We were originally supposed to get the old one fixed but something happened with the parts and whatnot, so now we have a nice new one. We also finally got TV last Friday and today our internet will come! The apartment is coming together and I am so glad. It’s been fun living here, but school has been so freaking hectic that I barely get to enjoy it.
Before I forget, I must share our sink story. Okay, so a couple weeks ago, our kitchen sink suddenly decided to back up. It was rather gross and the disposal would do nothing but gurgle. We waited for the water to go back down and hoped that it’d be okay to use again. So we were using the sink and whatever and then about an hour later it started barfing stuff again. I waited for the water to go back down and then I was going to use Drano on it. I lifted up that sink stopper thing on the sink side and Helen and I noticed this stick. My first thought was that it was a leaf stem or something, which is weird because it’s not like we have plants or throw leaves down the drain, but what I pulled out was even weirder. Out of the sink came a chopstick. In an apartment of mostly Chinese girls, you wouldn’t think this is totally weird, even though it came out of the sink side and not the disposal, but um, none of us have chopsticks. I immediately dropped it and ran to my bathroom to scrub my hands. It was so gross! And apparently two more came out after I had gone home. According to Daryl, there’s a Chinese guy living in our sink. And I’m sure he’s angry because he can’t eat with only one chopstick.
