Is that a Full Moon Out?

Cuz all kinds of craziness is happening!

1. I impulsively ran out to buy a Playstation 3 last Saturday for some emergency karaoke. Yes, in my world, there is such a thing as emergency karaoke. At least this time I didn't break my tooth doing it. Phew!

Like I told Lilo, you laugh at me now, but you will thank me later.

2. Not only does Dubbledubs know all the lyrics to Corrine Bailey Rae's "Put your Records On," but he sings it like a champ.



Like a real pre-teen girl scout champ.

3. My friends and I consumed 80 pounds of amazingly delicious food at Fatty Crab, and we were still hungry for dessert (at Chickalicious –so much more satisfying than Magnolia Cupcakes).

4. The Emotion Eric and my other friend Kawabunga came over and helped to get the Internet working on my new PS3. (It only took two days for them to figure it out, even though they supposedly work in "tech-no-logy.")

And WELL WORTH it, as I was then able to download Singstar karaoke videos of Spandau Ballet's magic hit wonders, "True" and "Gold," as well as "Hold On" by Wilson Phillips for our eternal singing pleasure.



Jealous, no?

5. A sleazy weirdo from my long-ago past commented on my recent entry about sleazy men! Funny, disturbing, or ironic? Maybe all of the above. (Sorry Nick, just bein' honest there. You're not gonna change my mind on that one.)

6. My 2 classmates, Jee & Lilo cannot get that stupid "Beep-Beep" song by PCD out of our heads. Thanks, KP. Bum-bum, BUM-BUM, bum-bum-BUM!

(BTW, karaoke-ing to this is so much better if you replace the beeps with "crotch," "boobs," "butt," and the like, as demonstrated by Lilo.)

7. I passed on drinking cider and playing speed-Scrabble at home with my roommate and out-of-town friends just so I could study 3 problems for an open-book math test. WTF is wrong with me.

8. I took that math test, in which I calculated the number of Parsecs away an object is in outer space from earth, based on its positioned angle between the earth and the sun, also known as a stellar parallax. Oh yes, say it with me: SOH CAH TOA!

9. Two couples I know got engaged. I think Princess Tater & Prince Dodger started a trend! Congrats to Amy & Mark and Kevin & Coley!

10. Oh, one more thing: dogs can walk like people.

Happy New Year?

After midnight of New Year's Eve, I went to karaoke with some friends in K-town, where a guy directed a mic at me with a little too much enthusiasm.

In other words, I now I have a chipped tooth.
WHO else would get a fucking chipped tooth at karaoke but ME?

And so, continues my horrible luck with New Year's events.

Yay 2008! It can only get better from here, right?

Happy New Year, guys!

I will not be beaten down!

It was a rough week. Schoolwork is doubling... as if the weekly all-nighters weren't bad enough! I hit a wall on Monday and decided to just get some sleep, finally miss a class, and just turn in my homework late.(Of course, that cheered up one of my over-achiever classmates, because he became the only one with perfect attendance.)

It's getting difficult to remain creative when I'm continually not getting proper rest, and I don't have time to hang out and get inspiration outside of school!

Last night was my weekly all-nighter. I don't know how much more of this I can handle. Just as I left campus today, my portfolio blocked a huge garbage can from my view as I walked full-speed into it. My knee still smarts from it.

And then when I went home and took a shower, my nose started bleeding. In the shower. WTF. Did I mention that half my classmates and teachers have colds? And still they come to class. My roommate and I keep a constant supply of Airborne at home, so luckily I've been okay in that area. Also, New York weather has dipped into the 40s. AND I have class tomorrow, on a Saturday, from 10am to 7pm!!!

Two of my classmates already broke down and cried from the stress! Sometimes we get a little wired and crazy and develop little strange habits. Most of them are little musical ticks. My class BFF tends to break into X'mas songs, and then the star marker-drawer started singing the Spiderman theme song over and over and couldn't stop. Then they said it was my turn to sing. I said I only sing at karaoke. The young dorm guys kept singing Jimmy Fallon's "Idiot Boyfriend" song. Luckily this mostly amuses me, but at times I see it come dangerously close to becoming annoying.

One of the seniors has her birthday today and even invited all the juniors to join in for karaoke later. As much as we all looove to sing, and have been dying to go karaoke together, we were just way too exhausted from the lack of sleep, so we declined the karaoke!!

Anyway, I will not be beaten down!!! I may get lower grades than I wanted, but I will not be beaten down! Not by Toy Design school, goddammit!

(In case you were wondering what I stayed up all night doing, this week it was drawing toy Mexican Wrestlers.)

Time for bed. Sheesh.

Quickie "I <3 NY" Tidbits

Before I get into my tales of Toy Design school, here are some fun NY moments of the last week:

• Getting asked by Rob Corddry (of "The Daily Show" fame) to watch his laptop at the local Starbucks


• Meeting a tv writer for "30 Rock", a writer of a new book about art & knitting, and a film curator who works for Martin Scorsese, at my cousin's party (The film curator told us about how he sometimes gets mistaken for some kind of celebrity food critic, and it dawned on me that he was, indeed, the doppleganger of Jeffrey Steingarten, who I've often enjoyed watching on "Iron Chef.")


• Getting days off from school for Rosh Hashanah!?


• Karaoke-ing at Winnie's, a funny little dive bar in Chinatown, right around the corner from my apartment. I went with four of my friends, and we realized that we were the only Asians in the whole bar.


• After a late night of drinking and singing at Winnie's, the Crasians wanted to get some food, and somehow we ended up at a "Chinese" restaurant called "69." This was the most Americanized Chinese food I had ever seen, because I could hardly recognize the food choices. One of the Crasians just gave in wholeheartedly and ordered Egg Foo Young & Egg rolls.


• Going to book-signing at a Chelsea Art Gallery, for a book about the new wave of knitting art, where I met a sculptor/part-time E.R. physician who turned out to know my brother from when they worked at the same hospital in Chicago (!?!?)


• My doorman greeting me by saying things like, "If I had a red carpet, I'd lay one out just for you," "It's like a dream come true," and "Did you notice how the lobby got a little brighter when you arrived?"


• Catching up with Dubbledubs and my original ex-boss from the old days of Yahoo!, over food and drink in the East Village. We ate at Momofuku and then drank some more at a hidden little bar called Angel's Share, where I enjoyed a delicious peach-flavored sake, and my ex-boss randomly broke a stem glass (either because he doesn't know his own strength or because he had one drink too many)


• Stumbling upon the Kid Robot store and picking up a "Smery" (stinky tofu) doll.

And as a side note: It turns out that the missing box and magazine rack from my move --they weren't missing at all. I thought the wardrobe box in the hall was my roommate's, but in fact it's mine. Yay!

Happy Rosh Hashanah to me.

A Case of the Happy Mondays

This morning, I signed the lease to my fabulous future Manhattan apartment and visited my friend Jen to get it scanned and sent back to New York to cinch the deal. Jen was working from home because she had a cold.

To comfort her cold, we headed to our favorite Mission restaurant, Luna Park, where she had a steak, soup, and salad, and I had a sweet corn risotto with English peas and cherry tomatoes. I "Dodgeballed" "@ Luna Park," to gloat about our lovely lunch, and so later a couple of my friends in the neighborhood later passed by to say hello.

Then I ran a few errands in my VW convertible bug with the top down, while Pink Martini, Digable Planets, Arrested Development, Smoosh, and Michael Bublé emanated from my car stereo, connected to my new iPod. It was just set to random shuffle, but the songs seemed oddly appropo. Then I came home to find an IM from KT, saying we should grab dinner and hit the Mint later this evening. That sounded like a plan to me!

Then I played a couple turns of "Scrabulous" (basically online Scrabble, my latest addiction) on Facebook and decided to take a nap, until I realized that it was so warm and sunny that it would be a travesty to not go lounge by the pool.

I got on my red Paul Frank bikini on, grabbed an amusing novel called "Love Monkey," and then decided it was so warm that I deserved a bowl of ice cream. Then Linda called me, and said, "Well you sound happy!" And I replied, "Well, I'm in swimwear, eating a bowl of Bi-Rite ice cream, listening to Britney, so yes, I'm pretty happy."

She confirmed that the papers went through, so we are, indeed, going to share an amazing apartment in September!

After I finished my ice cream, I grabbed my cowboy hat for shade and went down to go read by the pool, as I listened to mellow summer tunes from Beck and Emiliana Torrini.

Then I pondered what I should do with the two weeks' time I'll have between my last day of my San Francisco lease and when school starts. Quick trip to Los Angeles? Hawaii? Road trip to New York? Last-minute trip to Costa Rica? Or hitting as many bars and restaurants in San Francisco as I can before my time is up? Hmmm. Anybody up for a quick last-minute trip with me? Or San Francisco drinking and karaokeing? I'm hoping to check out Amnesia's Tuesday night karaoke tomorrow.

And just now Nicole called me about grabbing a snack at Ti Couz later after she's done browsing at Therapy. I'm trying to cajole her into joining me at the Mint later, with the offer for her to crash on my cozy sofabed, as I am just walking distance from the Mint.

I shall now return to enjoying the rest of my Happy Monday.

---

Soundtrack songs of the day:

Pink Martini: "Sympathique" (a song in French, about not wanting to work but rather to go smoke.)
Digable Planets: "Rebirth of Slick (Cool like Dat)"
Arrested Development: "Everyday People"
Smoosh: "Find a Way"
Michael Bublé: "For Once in My Life"
Britney Spears: "Outrageous"
Emiliana Torrini:"Unemployed in Summertime."
Beck: "Earthquake Weather"

Various thoughts of the last week.

• How the hell am I going to live a New York apartment, half the size of my San Francisco apartment?
  
  
• Tragically, I've decided to sell the Junebug. Know anyone interested in a 2004 Convertible Turbo VW Beetle in Aquarius blue, with practically new tires? I'll try not to cry.
  
  
• I use mobile texting a lot, but being asked out by a mobile text is a strange thing. I thought it was a Gen-Y move, vs. a Gen-X move, but in fact this has happened to me with older guys! Or maybe this is just the way guys operate these days, where they don't want to make it seem too "datey" but more casual, and if I happen to like the evening it becomes a date? But in the end it's really a date, isn't it?
  
  Getting asked out by mobile text strikes me as a little bit chicken, which is not a turn-on. And it strikes me as a "player" move, (also NOT a turn-on) because you could be texting while you're out with other people or other dates. Texting can be a multi-task sort of thing. I don't like the idea of being part of a multi-task.
  
  Back in the day, 15-year old boys had to pick up a phone and talk to a girl. If you're over 30, can you make the effort to talk to me? If I like you, I'll want to hear your voice. Am I old-fashioned?
  
  Or maybe nowadays, the texting is a early-stage thing, and the voice call comes later? I guess I could handle that. But it better move up to the voice call quickly. Or maybe guys don't like the sound of my voice, is that what they're saying?
  
  
• On my Karaoke Revolution game, I now have a virtual room of heads... of my San Francisco friends. That is, when I play karaoke in New York, I'll be able to pick one of their scanned heads to be on my player/singer. Is that creepy or sentimental? Both?
  
  
• After having about 3-5 cups of sake, maybe I shouldn't follow it with 3 shots of tequila.
  
  
• I know two people who have already shown me their iPhones. I guess they seem nifty, but that little keyboard is hard to type. And I didn't quite get the hang of the resize-drag. And knowing me, I would totally scratch up that screen in about a week's time.
  
  
• Okay, what is up with the dudes? I had like a 2-year dating dry spell, and last week I suddenly got the attention of 3 attractive guys, and this week, I hear nothing from ANY of them.
  
  I guess it doesn't help that I'm in mid-move to a new state. And I guess they know I'm traveling this week. But I am guessing that is not the issue. Is there any romance left in the modern metropolitan world? Thank God I have New York & toys to distract me from this nonsense.
  
  
• I saw that low-budget movie, "Colma." I thought it might be a sleeper-fun-slacker-indie film. But no. It made me want to go to sleep. I think there could be a more amusing musical made about my apartment complex. Or my livingroom. Or my dollhouse.
  
  
• Why do I have to wear a wool coat in JULY? (Yes, I know. I'll be bitching about the humidity next month when I finally move to New York.) At least it'll be warm when I get to Chicago for 4th of July. Happy Independence Day!

The 10 BFF Factors

It has occured to me over the last year, that there are common themes among my very good friends. If you basically can identify with the following 10 BFF* factors, you can pretty much almost guarantee being my new best friend.

1. Food-lover:
You enjoy all kinds of food, cheap and expensive, various international cuisines, raw, cooked, meaty, veggie, carbs, seafood, cheese, desserts, etc. and will even venture into things like stinky tofu. You love to try it all. And you feel sad for people with food restrictions.

2. Karaoke-enthusiast:
You like a good melody and you're not afraid to let it out, even if it is KC & JoJo, Fergie, Tupac, or Hall & Oates. And you've probably scoped all the local karaoke venues.

3. Dancin' fool:
You've got rhythm & moves, and you don't have to wait for others to get on that dance floor; well maybe a drink sometimes helps. Bonus points for knowing how to pair-dance, as in salsa or swing.

4. Parappa the Rappa:
The combination of animals, rap, cuteness, great illustration, bizarre humor, and a cleverly designed video game pretty much puts you on cloud nine.

5. World explorer:
You've visited other cities and at some point ventured into Europe and Asia. And you want to see more.

6. Rushmore:
Yes, Max Fischer was kind of a jerk. But you love him anyway. And Wes Anderson. And wasn't that soundtrack fantastic?

7. Shoe freak:
You've got good shoes. You probably have a variety of them --maybe too many, but you certainly don't mind.

8. Color embracer:
You're not afraid of color in your wardrobe. And when I say color, I mean, beyond gray, black, white, blue, and beige.

9. Nerd love:
You are in some way, kind of a big nerd. --Maybe not in a totally awkward way (anymore), but you likely get really obsessive about certain topics, and maybe you're a little embarrassed by this, but you can't help it. It keeps you humble, anyway. Maybe it makes you delightfully strange. Or you have probably have dated some nerds. I guess they tend to go hand in hand.

10. Maker-folk:
Whether or not you are a creative professional, you have a craving to make things, like food, photography, pillows, jewelry, cards, cross-stitching, RFID-based stuffed toys and the like.

Those are my BFF factors. What are yours?

* "Best Friends Forever," for those who have forgotten their Junior High school days

Hangin' w/ the L.A. homeys

I just got back from another sun-filled trip to L.A. I think I broke a record for the number of neighborhoods I visited. In six days, I went to: West L.A., Torrance, Whittier, Pasadena, Downtown L.A. garment district, Arcadia, Chinatown, Santa Monica, Los Feliz, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, and Ventura. Good thing my VW Bug is fun to drive around, and the traffic was surprisingly not bad!

I visited my brothers & other relatives, and finally got to meet my 3-month-old nephew, who is super cute. Here are the other trip highlights:

• KT introduced me to "Dark Angel," featuring my favorite soap/sci-fi actor, Jensen Ackles. We also had a dvd fest of "Entourage" Season 3 to kick off my L.A. mood.


• Shopping score #1: Macy's friends/family sale. I picked up a Tokidoki gray/black shirt and a leSportsac tote with a summer print involving: skyscrapers, poodles, convertibles, and flowers. How perfect is that!?


• A delicious Japanese-fusion-tapas sort of meal at Orris on Sawtelle, where this funny old guy on a date, at the next table, gave KT and me the rest of his bottle of wine. And when he saw us photographing our food, he made us take a picture of him. His date was very good-humored about it.


• Shopping score #2: Angie took me to a new little outlet store on Sawtelle where I got TWO Members-Only-styled jackets -- but cuter, for about TWENTY DOLLARS.


• Pinkberry: the fruit-topped fro-yo cup of heaven that has taken L.A. & N.Y. by storm. I could eat it everyday. I had it on Sawtelle one day and the next day in Los Feliz... as we saw Griffith Park go up in flames in the distance. It was a surreal moment.
  


• Shopping score #3: At the Beverly Center, I discovered Heritage, which is like a slightly nicer Forever 21. I bought a super cute green jumper with heart-shaped buttons. This continues my tradition of buying a sun-dress every time I visit L.A.
  


• Private-room karaoke at Yuu Yuu, on Sawtelle, where Jo sang a heartfelt Boys II Men love ballad, KT did Beyoncé's "Irreplaceable" as we danced backup, Angie wailed Def Leppard, and I ambitiously tested my rap skillz on "Fergalicious."


• Shopping score #4: Also at the Beverly Center, I went to Momoberry, the Hello Kitty boutique for "grown-ups." No, I did not buy the Kimora Lee Simmons diamond-encrusted Hello Kitty ring. But I did buy the dumpling-headed Hello Kitty phone charm.


• Shopping score #5: I went to Chinatown, in search of a cheongsam. The first one I tried on was a perfect fit!


• Public karaoke at the Gaslite, where I tried to ignore the guy who couldn't stop spitting when he talked to me. KT did a Fleetwood Mac number, and then I improvised my way through the Lisa Lisa Cult Jam classic, "Lost in Emotion."


• Catching up with old college friends at Montana Restaurant and Lounge, in Santa Monica, for Olivia's 30th b-day dinner. It was a very L.A. restaurant, where they had drinks like jalapeno martinis and yummy kobe burgers. But best of all, the waiters (and waitresses) are smokin'. They looked like they could have been stars from the CW (formerly known as the WB). I hear it's gonna close in 5 weeks, so check it out while you can!


• I wore the cheongsam to a Wong Kar Wai-themed closing party for an Asian Film Festival, which was surprisingly packed! The ladies were looking lovely in their vintage dresses. It was partly an outdoor party, on a warm night, and they had good mojitos. A guy was hitting on me, but I told him the sad truth: it was my last night in L.A., I live in S.F., and I'm moving to NYC. So I told him it'd be like a true Wong Kar Wai movie: nothing was going to happen.