San Diego was sunny and a lot of fun. I think I ate too much though. Sometimes going to SD intimidates me, esp with the crowd around me all the time. I always feel like I need to lose weight and get a fashion consultant. Anyway as we basked in the San Diego sun, Rox and the gang came and introduced us to Brian. How can you not like a guy that likes Scrubs and can kick butt at Tetris?! Good choice :)
At the party, Emmer came as we were about to leave. We caught up a bit and he and invited me to his graduation. I've always wanted to check out the UCSD campus, but I don't know if I'll be able to make it. We'll see. Sometimes I wonder what my life would be like if we settled in SD instead of where we are now. I'd probably be one of them, and I don't think it would be a bad way to go. Although I don't regret living near Los Angeles and making friends outside of my cultural niche even though it makes me an outsider/stranger within my own group so to speak.
Today my dad had surgery for his arm due to the car accident a few months back. I know he's been freaking out about it since he was told he would have to get surgery. I'm glad he came out okay. I hope his shoulder heals quickly.
Today I also I drew my first realistic looking rose with my pentablet. I really suck at drawing roses. They're so generic and yet I have major problems drawing them. Sometimes I get the angle and shading right, but usually it ends up a mess. As I was finishing the design today I decided to color the rose in and give options of red, yellow or black. At one point, while I was shading in the red rose, it began to look real and I just kept going from there. I'm nearly done with my friend's tattoo design. I'm actually proud of myself for getting to a decent point without restricting my creative freedom. You have to design to a customer's liking without compromising your own original style. I'm lucky in a sense that Jae and I think a like artistically even though we don't necessarily share the same taste or style. It's times like these I wish I had taken an anatomy class so I could get a better understanding of bone structure, muscles and movement. Human form can get so complicated to draw.
Hoping for some sun
I'm off to San Diego for the weekend. Just checked the weather. Crappers it will be cold. Oh well. Anyway good news is IJ may be able to go to NY with me (yey). Cris, you still need to let me know if you can come so I can book our flight/hotel etc. I hope you can get that week off!
In other news, I am nearly finished with the tatoo design for Jae. Hopefully it comes out really cool. I'm liking it so far. I never thought I'd be getting so many of my friends asking for tatoo designs. Weird. Okay I'm off. Need to get up early tomorrow!
Yo, ho, yo ho, a pirates life for me...
Carlson (thank you!!!), Mel, Herzon, Rice and I just came back from watching Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. I'm glad we didn't go to the midnight showing, or I'd be hurting tomorrow. We actually came 15 mins late. Luckily those were all previews so as we sat down the previews just ended. Talk about great timing. Anyway, the movie was a lot of fun to watch. I wish there was more story/depth in it though. Otherwise it was entertaining and as action packed as ever...maybe even a bit excessively done to the point of taking away from the story development, but otherwise it was cool. Jack Sparrow looks alot cleaner in this movie. I still have a lot of questions about it too. I hope to get a better understanding once I see it again. Those who have yet to see it, please wait till the very end. Patience does you good :)
UCLA Run-Walk 2007 DONE
Yey just got back from the Run-Walk! Had lots of fun. I'm still recovering from the dehydration coming back from Lake Elsinor late last night...so HOT THERE! I didn't think I'd make it to the run today, but I did! Glad it wasn't hot during the event and I'm so happy our group had a big turnout :D Bonnie and I flaged down Jack Sparrow and had him take shots (photographs not alcohol) with our group. He totally looked like Johnny Depp! He even has his English slurr down drunken walk down!
I also forgot that today is also the last day of the strawberry festival, so there was more traffic than usual going home. I don't think I'm going this year. I had my fair share of strawberries yesterday anyway. I'm tired from the drive yesterday more so than the run. Man I need to get in shape...
G1988 continued
Sometimes I make perfect sense when I'm not really thinking properly. I wish I could be so wise all the time. --my reaction to a private post I made back in Jan 22, 2007.
Moving on, as I promised, I did go to the gallery yesterday. Bi and I went to the G1988 after the party. As I mentioned in my previous post, Ace shot the video for the opening reception for the online mag he works for and was able to interview Jon (curator) and some of the featured artists of the show pretty cool (see previous ljc post).
The art this year was of higher caliber I think. Though we did see a few familiar artists who have been regulars since the first show, Luke of course being one. We saw Jon again and the place had not changed much. Bi's friends went to the gallery two weeks before. I think they got to touch the Atari pad. I was very much dismayed to find that it wasn't there when we went yesterday. Nevertheless, it was a lot of fun just the two of us. Although I would have liked more of my friends to enjoy art as much as I do, having one who really understands and enjoys it is much better than bringing a group who couldn't fully appreciate it. I'm glad we were able to go togther this time.
After a good amount of time gazing at colorful and increasingly erotic and disturbing video game inspired art, we went to Yamatos for some Japanese food and ambiance. He wasn't kidding when he said it was more old style Japanese. It always trips me out how they really do say irashaimasen so happily when greeting people and yet when we leave they say "good bye". I was telling him how there isn't really a Japanese word for goodbye in a less definite manner than sayonara, but I digress. Anyway, he ordered three different sushi plates and I basically ordered a bentou (miso soup, rice, salad, cucumber salad, sliced cantaloupe, orange and cherry, shumai and tonkatsu). Needless to say I was full beyond repair. Bi had me try some tempura fried sushi with eel sauce (highly recommended). Then we shared some tempura fried green tea ice cream (YUM!). Oh I have to add that as I was charging my camera, I forgot to put back the batteries (lame, I know) so I had to resort to my 1.5 mega pixel camera phone. Not too bad since I can get a pretty large picture out of it (1280x960), but those pictures will have to wait.
After dinner I was feeling so grossly fat and full, so Bi suggested we check out the new out door mall. It was pretty nice. Reminded me of the Century City Mall. There was even a live Jazz band playing like at the promenade. We walked around and did a little shopping and saw some of his friends. I bought some clothes and a Mother's day present for my mom. By then we were just intime for the 9pm showing of Spiderman 3. (We both got student discounts :D). Much to my surprise, I liked the movie. The hard core Marvel fans may be disappointed at how they changed the story quite a bit, but it did wrap up pretty cleanly...maybe a little too clean. Anyway I like it when things fall into place and people get what they deserve. In this case it didn't play out the typical Marvel comic tragic way. I don't care though. I was never a Spiderman fan, so this one was a change. I do want to see Pirates 3 though. I can't wait. And there's this indie film I'm really excited to see. I forgot the title though, but its another "coming of age" movie. I guess I can't get enough of those. Anywho, that's what happened at the gallery and beyond.
Next week, May20th I'm doing the runwalk, so those of you who want to join me, or wish to pledge to help out the kids at the Mattel Children's Hospital, please do. Every dollar helps. If anything, it's a lot of fun to get involved and help out. It's a pretty big annual event for us. This year's theme is Pirates! Check runwalk.ucla.edu for details. And congratulations to UCLA Women's Water Polo and to UCLA atheletes for winning their 100th NCAA title :D
