Saturday, January 22, 2011

i will never get sick of this.

Never.



1. I want to work in that record shop. (Or just, y'know, WORK.)
2. It's funny to see that their fashion sense has come back in full force with the current hipster trends. Except nowadays there's the addition of the raccoon tail, which remains a very confusing mystery to this blogger. If you accessorize yourself with a raccoon tail, fake or real, please explain.
3. I would marry Ducky. For those dance moves.
4. This song RULES. I love Otis!
5. They're supposed to be in high school. Lolz.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

listening to this song,

I want to be far from home & traveling again. This summer cannot come sooner. My bones feel restless again for the world.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

today i got a job.

& I turned it down. It was for a marketing firm that specializes in direct marketing, meaning one-on-one, man-to-man, person-to-person... DOOR-TO-DOOR.


Before I write anything further, I would first like to note that I have full, complete awe & admiration for people that sell things door to door, whether that be man, woman, girl scout, or guy standing in the middle of the sidewalk asking if you have a minute for [insert world problem here]. It takes a lot of guts, energy & pep to go for hours pitching a schpeel that is usually responded to with rejection and not-interested's. Not a lot of people are cut out for this line of work, eg. me. I had such a job one summer in high school. I quit 3 days later.

So, today I shadowed one of the employees (we shall call him Chad) as a type of second interview. We drove to Santa Cruz, which was lovely & sunny. (I cringed when we drove past Maryanne's Icecream without stopping; I never pass that place without getting a scoop. NEVER.) After 50, I lost track of how many people we talked to, all of which were nice enough but most of which ultimately declined our promotion (discount paint ball tickets). But Chad just kept going, not discouraged in the slightest. I was amazed at his unwavering energy & cheer.

During pitching lulls, I learned a lot about Chad and how he ultimately wants to have a career in music. Listening to him geek out about his favorite bands, sound editing programs, personal side projects, etc. I kept wondering why he was & had been working this particular job and others like it for so long instead of pursuing something more in the music vein. What it boiled down to was that he was too afraid to take risks. Chad had become comfortable, too comfortable in financial & life style stability. These are two important things when considering the quality of human life, to be sure, but he didn't seem happy. At least not as happy as he was when talking about music.

We also spoke with an independent artist & an auto mechanic. Both, while living humbly & often swinging from financial safety to danger, were happy. Both were working jobs for which they had passion & love. I hope I can get there some day. I wish I could just open up my coffee shop now and be happy with that, but alas. As is the way of our society, I must first pay my dues by working multiple mediocre jobs that may make me want to cry/cringe/eat entire batches of funfetti cupcakes. Ah, such is life. At least I'll feel like I've earned my happiness & coffee house in the end?

when i told dan i never found his asian counterpart while abroad:

Daniel: BECAUSE I'M A UNIQUE SPECIAL SNOWFLAKE DAMNIT
<-- They would disagree.
Also:

Daniel: so when is your return again?
me: feb 10
STOP FORGETTING
Daniel: IF IT'S NOT NOW IT'S NOT WORTH REMEMBERING.

Ohhhhh Dan Yac. How I miss you.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

my life is measured in countdowns.

And the latest one is 23 days until I get to New York. And I really can't wait! It'll be cold, but it will be awesome and full of lovely faces that I've missed! And Alex has promised that we will finally building a blanket and pillow fort! (We forgot to do that while he was here. FAIL.)

So this song by Inara George (you may recognize her vocals from The Bird & The Bee) called Right as Wrong is quickly becoming my post-grad anthem.

Monday, January 17, 2011

"san jose...

is where your soul goes to die."

My friend from high school told me that. Yesterday it felt pretty true. With the departure of my boyfriend that morning and the weather being ominously foggy & gray (I nerdily thought of the spectors in Harry Potter), life looked pretty lame. But after having a long heart-to-heart with my mum (who I absolutely LOVE) and some tea, I managed to dig myself out of that UGH-hole of a mentality. So, with reestablished optimism & cheer, I'm starting to lessen my stressing and to again appreciate San Jose.

San Jose Moment #1:
Jim and I went to Valley Fair. His Banana Republic gift cards + my fashion sense = SUCCESS and half an outfit (no pants). As we were leaving the mall, we walked past a restaurant with big windows. What do you do with huge windows and tables of people enjoying lunch on the other side? You do the staircase (please see video below) of course! Which I did. Or tried to. And I amused 2 people (including Jim). The second (not Jim) totally would have given me a high five. If not for the glass.

alex & california.

So, the boyfriend came to visit for 10 days. After 4 months of electronic and pixelated communication, it was the BEST to hug him! And it was hilarious to see him stand next to my mum, who is almost 2 feet shorter. Teehee. Here's a recap of some of our adventures.

We frolicked to the Oakland Museum of California to check out the 25 Years of Pixar exhibit! Spent about 2 hours in the exhibit, ooo-ing and ahhh-ing over how AWESOME Pixar is. The outside gardens were pretty sweet, too.

Traveled to lovely, lively Berkeley to see Lemony Snicket's The Composer is Dead! Awesome puppets and stage design. And if you're under 30 you get half off tickets at the Rep! NICE.
Had tapas with Jim in Mountain View. Note to self: Tapas are ALWAYS expensive. & anything wrapped in bacon is delicious. Then went to the ultimate dive bar that was too divey to even have a sign. Thanks, Mervyn's. That $3.50 beer was delicious.
Then off to SF! [x] Pirate Supply Store [x] The Mission [x] REAL Mexican food [x] Bi-Rite Creamery [x] Amoeba [x] Met Austin, a new & lovely Rodrigue's kid [x] FUN.

Nadia's birthday party, complete with pinata, EPIC-beautiful-8-layer-rainbow cake & adorable dog. And a performance of Too Close by Next. YES.

Drove approx 60 miles south to Monterrey. Sunset was lovely. It smelled salty. We had a picnic but pulled the classic let's-buy-wine-oh-wait-we-can't-open-it-but-we-already-bought-it-...-fail.

With lots of episodes of Community in between. The end.

Monday, January 3, 2011

happy new year!

Hello! So, I've neglected this blog because of busyness, laziness & the lack of foreign adventures to write about. But, I've since decided to try to continue the blog anyway. I mean, I may not be in Asia, but San Jose, California is arguably a strange, strange land in it's own way. I shall prove this point in later posts.


I've been back for almost a month. While I miss Asia terribly, home has been delightful & I love being here. I've fallen into the old routine of college winter breaks- seeing friends, eating too much at dinner because my mom RULES at cooking, being too loud & rowdy in public with high school pals, etc. As the time approaches for the new semester or quarter to start for colleges, I'm starting to feel restless & pulled in the north eastern direction. I have to keep reminding myself that I graduated last year. I really do feel like I just graduated all over again though. Done with school. No job. No set direction. Panic. Calm. Panic. Calm. CalmPANICcalmmmmmm.


I've been applying to jobs, feeling the deja vu of the summer. Hopefully a job opportunity will come sooner this time around. It's been rough. While I haven't been receiving outright rejections, the silence & unanswered resumes can be just as painful & frustrating. Job/employment/work gods, please give me a break. I swear I'm nice. And if you could widen the interview/call back pool to include more than just marketing firms, I would be much obliged.

Also, to HR people out there: IT IS NOT APPROPRIATE TO ASK OUT AN APPLICANT. That's just gross.