FOOD: 09/01/2010

I have nothing else to say...

other than....

that.........

BEST 냉면 EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[at least from the instant 냉면 category!!!]

FOOD: 08/31/2010

Okay gonna go thru what I made/ate today~~~~~~

Italiano~~~? well my take on it neways...

So~~~ this was Bread Pizza. I had it with a nice cup of welch's concord grape juice. yum!

Milk toast, Ketchup, sausage, baby spinach, mushroom, and cheese

best brunch everrr

PASTA

fresh mushroom tomato sauce with lots of veggies~

broccoli and 2 diff kinds of mushrooms. more veggies than sauce, i think.

I pan fried garlic in the pan with olive oil n lil bit of salt n pepper till it gets brown and put ground meat n panfriend those two till meat was almost done n then put all of veggies - washed n sliced [chunky slices].

when vegetables r a lil more than halfway cooked, I put the tomato sauce.

lovely ribbon pasta

That was my day of food!

All About Bikes!!!

Okay no food post today cuz it was uninteresting but I will tell you all about bikes and keeping bikes in USC.

I've had a horrible experience of getting my ever-so-loved bike getting stolen in the beginning of last semester. Okay I was a freshman and I am from Irvine California. Yeah. I know nothing about things getting stolen other than occasional scientific calculator robbery in high school.

Well so my bike is gone. Initially, it was hard for me to swallow cuz I DID PARK IT N LOCKED IT ON THE BIKE RACK when most people just leave it free standing...

but guess what I locked my bike with~~

Yeah a plain old thin bike cable.

Yeah that's totally enough to safeguard your bike -_-

So I learned my lesson.

So after a whole semester of no-bike-ing on campus, I realize how much longer everything takes for me to get to places... sure I'm spoiled after having a bike, but I come to realize I would be much much more efficient with time if I have a bike again. Still that was not enough to convince myself to get another bike when I'm scared to have it stolen again [I become quite attached to anything I own... I guess I should use Buddha's teaching of detachment...]. BUT 2 reasons have prompted me to search for bikes again...

1) My work is on the very very opposite side of campus and i work alot @_@ Walking late at night from my work is much less safer than biking back, I figured. If anything happens, I can spritz my pepper spray and pedal for my life. [my work is just a street across from the school boundary

2) I like with my sister and she has a bike. It's hard when we are trying to go somewhere and she wants to use a bike, but chooses not to since I don't have one. I feel bad for her and she's been trying to make me buy a bike.

So here I go again looking for my bike and I found a nice bike with my fav color with rather reasonable price. Yes much less expensive than my last one [this place is doing a no tax promotion with cash payment whoop whoop! that is alot!]

Gorrrrrgeous. Promotion goes for $139.99 or smth. Okay so before I even begin attempting to get a bike I went on a research about bike locks.

So I am going with Kryptonite New York Mini lock. Highest security rating and designed for, as the name goes, ppl living in high crime area like New York! [or, in my case, LA!]

It's called a fahgettaboutit or smth like that. well i don't think i'll ever not worry about my bike every again =( but it'll give me a lil peace of mind.

ALSO! I am getting a kryptoflex cable to loop around my wheels n seats since bikeparts-stealing is pretty common here too. I don't wanna hafta worry about spending another 30 dollars getting another seat [and the inevitable inconvenience in the morning of missing-seat-discovery]. So why not get a cable that's 13 dollars to wrap around the whole thing. I know it might look CRAAAZY every night doing that but everything's worth it more than worrying about losing my bike again. Yeah i got quite paranoid n determined now.

OKAY so my total expense for having another bike would be around 200 dollars. That's a big investment and I don't want it to go down the drain. I am saving big time right now for it n hopefully i can get it soon. I'm pretty excited for it! You know really, I am not that bitter about my bike theft incident. I'm pretty sure those bike thieves don't wanna b doing what they r doing - sneaking up to a college at the middle of the night and putting frowns on bike owners... who'd want to do that? I feel rather bad for them. If my bike had given them extra money to get rid of one wrinkle off their face even just for one day then I am happy. They need that money way more than I do... I do understand that. Hopefully they can put a smile on their children or dependent family.

Anyways, that's my little investigation of bikes and how to keep bikes properly locked and what not. Wish me luck in not having it stolen again. I really like this bike much more than my previous one so hopefully i can get it soon... I am saving very diligently for it! It's all my hard-earned money so don't think i'm spoiled hahaha. well i know i am but on this one, i'm working hard for it!!!!!

Love, Angela

FOOD: 08/25/2010

I had a hemp protein shake with almond milk for brunch

then I had a very late dinner... picture~

Rice, kimchijjigue [김치찌개], egg dipped meatball thing [동그랑땡], and dried seaweed.

water~

sort of small dinner

Enjoy~

FOOD: 08/24/2010

Imma start doing blog more often. Hopefully. hahaha

Imma try to post up some pictures or just details of what I ate that day. I dunno why but I'll do it!

Breakfast - quick cereal.

Lunch - soy sauce fried rice with mushroom, broccoli, and egg.

Dinner - [pictures~~~~]

view of the whole thing

미역국 [seaweed soup] omg sooooo good! and healthy! lovingly made by mom.

There are some beef pieces so yay protein

Our side dish!

Kimchi on top,

Rolled egg thing in the middle,

Tiny anchovy thing on the bottom.

Good stuff. I made the egg thing by myself! Pretty hard but I'm mastering it now!!!

If you aren't careful n adjust the heat setting and timing poorly, it won't roll!!!!!

Tofu with soy sauce.

Soooo good. Organic tofu, alright?

This is really not hard at all to make.

You slice the tofu in edible pieces and microwave them for 3 minutes.

While that's rollin, put soy sauce, little bit of vinegar, salt, pepper, sesame seeds, sesame oil, green onions, and most importantly - ground garlic in a bowl n mix em well. Sauce done! For ground garlic, I usually buy the pack n keep it in a freezer.

Once the tofu is microwave-d arrange the tofu slices and put the sauce on top.

Yay!

and Rice of course. and water haha

Enjoy~

I stop barking when I think about the one I love

Kaiser, a very handsome and adorable siberian husky I encountered on youtube the other day, stops barking when he starts thinking about his love. Maybe I'll stop barking too when I have the one to think about ahahaha




Love, Angela

Past memories...

sometimes i come across a moment when I am too occupied with thoughts about the past... Little things in my life help trigger my remembrance of such memories... like an old email that I accidentally came across or a little post it that I kept that somebody wrote to me years earlier... Sometimes the relationship with that person is still well now, sometimes it isn't. And if it isn't, it makes me really sad. Having a bad relationship with anybody really sucks... I wanna go back and fix it if I can but I know I cannot. I try to mend it in the present, but it feels like shattered shards of glass... Broken pieces of memories... heart broken moments and tears... result of anger and frustration. It feels so hurtful and so fragile that I am too afraid to approach... I am too afraid to step barefoot into those shards of glass and hurt myself... Make it even worse than how it is now...

Then I come to a moment where I tell myself to stop thinking about the past. Maybe that person is happy now. Why bother to bring up the sad past and remind him/her sad memories unnecessarily? So should I leave this like this? and then on and on it goes my stream of thoughts... Sometimes I am so sure with my decisions and what to do in my life, but sometimes I have these moments where I stop the reins of my horses. Is this the right way? Did I make a right turn?

So I go again with heartful of questions, both answered and unanswered, to conquer my life.

Love, angela

Day with Aisha and Sylvia/ Lip Piercing Day - not me tho!

Today, my bestie got a lip piercing!!! ahhh! It's so awesome on her. It was very very nerve wrecking on my part i dunno why. I was so nervous for her but she said it didn't hurt that much and it turned out all good!!!

Love you Aisha <33333333333333

We were gonna go to the vietnamese spring roll place @ Huntington Beach first tho but it was closed!!!! They were doing some kind of renovation =( innnnng I really love their rolls...

The Piercing salon was called Somatic in Long Beach. It is registered with one of those organizations for safe gun-less piercing... The lady there was super nice and good (except for the hesitant piercing procedure! Aisha said that the needle went in part by part. eeek!) Other than that it was a goood experience for both of us!!!

We went to CVS on our way back to the freeway to get non-iodized sea salt for cleaning her piercing but they didn't have it. We went to Ralph in the same mall but it didn't have it either. They all had epsom salt tho. what the hack do u use it for? what a strange name...

We went back to Irvine and went to the District. We were hungry so went in to Chick-fil-A and got ourselves a dinner. Then we went into the WholeFoods Market to get the salt and they had it!!!!!! yay we got it and went out to hot topic which was closed, so went into Borders instead. We got some goodies and then met up with Sylvia at Pinkberry! Lots of chit chat and bye bye @ around 11 =D

T'is was a goooood day. I love hanging out with Aisha. She's the bestie of besties and I love her soooo sooo much!!!!! I love you Sylvia too!!! Got to share a bit of my day with you!!!! It was a great great day yay!!!

oh when Aisha dropped me off at the back gate she honked at me. =P but the car that was goin by really fast behind her heard it and braked sooo sharp cuz of that ahahahaha I felt so bad! BAD GIRL AISHA <3 sooon ="">

Love, Angela

mehh i feel like u really don't like this pic. i should have asked ur permission neways... Mianhae!!! luv you much n think its a real cute pic of u but if u don't like it i'll take it down =D

Photo shoot day

ABOVE IS MY FINAL IMAGE <3

ah very much tiring day!!!

I had to reshoot for my photo project numba 2! It was real fun but alot of effort/time/care/work...... Thank you Susie for being my ever more awesome model!!! I had to face paint her face and set up little details in the frame and even then it was 30 more minutes of pain for her!!! SORRY AND THANK YOU AGAIN! without u this would not have turned out so nice!!!

It was a mess too!!! I mean look at that mess!!!

This is my raw image!!! May have to do some layer masking, and adjusting different things... but this is my proud babe!!!

As Always, I, as an artist, leave my artwork up to my viewers. You can decide to draw meaning from it or not, make your own associations or inferences, listen to my own personal take or motivation in creating this work or not, or, even, look at my artwork or not. This is because we are all a holistic result of many many things that happened in our lives and what something means to me will not mean anything at all to you. You may even reject our tendencies to derive meaning from anything. In such case, you may opt out to judge my work only in terms of aesthetic merit! In any case, I hope that my work and all the future works that will come in the future provide intriguing experience to you!

Anyways, this is my story. WARNING! If this may ruin your artistic experience please do not read ahaha. For me, I always thought that hearing about an artist's inspiration and intended message is always very interesting. It helps me grow as an artist too.

This is my rendering of the story of the Elmer the Elephant. If you want to know the story that inspired me, watch an animated version on youtube! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AanMEwexKX4

I was going to re-write my statement but just decided to copy and paste my project proposal. Enjoy~!

Project 2 Narrative Proposal

Elmer the Patchwork elephant is the clown - the odd one, in the children’s story book by David McKee. In the world of elephant grey, he has the patchwork of colors to brighten the day. Elmer likes to make others laugh.

“Elmer was different. Elmer was patchwork. Elmer was yellow and orange and red and pink and purple and blue and green and black and white. Elmer was not elephant color.”

“But if there were even a little smile, it was usually Elmer who started it.”

> The animated version of the story can be found here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AanMEwexKX4

Elmer one day was in a deep contemplation. “He was tired of being different. Whoever heard of a patchwork elephant? He thought. No wonder they laugh at me.” He felt sad.

Our culture’s reliance on the visual perception and the focus on the appearance are prevalent even in this children’s story. Elmer, being the people pleaser he was, can be compared well with the clown analogy. I felt like Elmer was feeling something like a clown. Both love and enjoy making others laugh, acknowledging the funny and visually loud appearance they have. But one can get tired of such difference. Elmer could be sad inside. This goes with the idea of what is shown on the surface vs. reality inside. He is a joyful and funny looking elephant, but is saddened by the fact that he stands out so much.

In the story, Elmer goes and finds a bush of elephant-colored berries and paints himself in the elephant color and hides his patchwork skin. The story goes on in a happy ending, but this part is where I got my inspiration. People often try to fit into the society by erasing or suppressing their uniqueness. I thought the scene of Elmer painting himself in the elephant color was very visually powerful and symbolic. I want to reenact that scene, adopting it into a human reality. In some sense, I think I am doing something similar to Mike Kelley and Paul McCarthy’s Heidi.

I want to have a ‘patchwork colored’ model in a bathroom, concealing her patchwork skin away with a grey elephant colored make up and clothes, while others (in normal elephant grey color) laughs and are amazed at her natural colorful appearance. The ‘normal’ models will be wearing different, but same colored clothes. I hope to bring out the uneasiness in the face of the patchwork model for being different. Such props and colors refer directly back to the story. However, I want my work to stand by itself without the aid of David McKee’s story. Color association should make the viewers realize the message even without my work’s association with his book. I want to take a photo of the mirror instead of the actual – I think it adds onto the idea of the visual representation and image, rather than the real. I think I will photoshop myself out of the reflection if my chosen angle includes me in the picture frame. I am not so set on camera angle or composition except that I want to focus on the patchwork model’s action and put her in the middle. I want to try multiple different angles and composition and see what works the best. I am very excited to start shooting for this project! The first (and only I hope!) photoshoot will be this weekend.

Works Cited

David., McKee,. Elmer. New York: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, 1989. Print

One of the line I like the most from the story book is something like...

"Oh Elmer, it did not take too long to show your true color!!!"

Everybody has their own unique color. Sometimes it is a hard struggle between showing off your color but at the same time finding that balance to fit in. Getting along with others, along with being who you are, is a very hard balance to find. I thought the name of my foundation was clever in my work. It's called "Intelligent Balance." We all strive to find that smart stable point in the see-saw.

This photo has been a very inspirational piece fore myself too. I think it comments on the reality of make up too. Is it about expressing your color or fitting into the beauty image? Why are so many so upset about the notion that make up is covering ur imperfections away? I mean is that true? Or what is wrong with doing so? How is make up then is different from wearing clothes? Or putting earrings on? These are deceptively big question for us to answer. Also I thought that the medium of photography was very appropriate for my project. Photography is all about what is on the surface too. It is a representation of the physicality, and we are forced to think about the unseen or the underneath or the above... It is deceptively real and we are forced to believe it as real... I am only beginning to explore this whole new arena of art!!!

wow what a long post!!!!! I wanted to write everything down that was on my brain so that I can come back to this maybe long long time later. I am still a budding photographer so I promise to get better and better each day!!!

Love you all and Have the most amazing day!!!!!!!!!!!

When you are feeling low, don't forget that I'm here for you!!!!!AND DON'T FORGET TO SMILE!!!!!

Love, Angela

p.s. addition to the post on Aug. 26th.

This is the piece that I won $3,000 scholarship with, from the Sacramento USC alumni association art competition. THANK YOU SO MUCH! It is such an amazing honor for me, and especially significant since I have never earned a winning recognition from any art competition before. I am truly thankful!!!

Yay Start of my blog!

I must say that I know that I will never be too diligent with this thing. If I am that's awesome but if I'm not... ooops!

This will be a place I will babble to myself forever ahaha

no really that too but It will be a place where I can secure my everyday mundane or special memories. Seriously this is going to be a collage and montage of random bits and pieces taken from my life!

I'm excited to know what this is going to become =D

Love, Angela