forever 21

Part One:  The day before my birthday:

The view from a surprised birthday girl

When I got out of my photography class at 9 P.M., I went to Josh's place to work on homework.  He asked me to help him write a summary for his lab report that night, and I agreed to lend him my writing skills as much as I could.  Meanwhile, I fell asleep in the middle of writing my English midterm paper oh Josh's couch as he played computer games.  I remember waking up at one point when Josh told me that he had to stop by his workplace.  He works with fruit flies in a lab on campus.  I was so sleepy that I instantly fell back asleep until I woke up to a phone call at around 11:50 P.M.  Josh's voice sounded panicked on the other end, and he told me that he needed my help right away.  Before I knew it, he came to pick me up.

Worried, frustrated, and angry, Josh told me that all his fruit flies had died at work because he didn't take care of them over spring break.  I was felt guilty and shocked because I had spent a large portion of my spring break with Josh, taking away his time from work.  I offered a few hugs, the least I could do to comfort him as I was recovering from my sleepiness, but Josh was so upset that he didn't hug me back.

I followed him to his car and thought about how I could help him.  For a moment, I honestly imagined us pulling an all-nighter to catch new fruit flies and repopulate his experiment.  He continued to scowl in the car, and before I knew it, I found myself in tears and crying because I didn't know how to help Josh.  Then he said, "You're right.  Bad things do happen on your birthday" (because I had told him a while back about how I tend to get sick on my birthdays).  I started crying even more because I felt so bad for bringing bad luck into Josh's life, and I didn't want to spend my birthday feeling poopy (it was 12:03 A.M. by then).  I wiped away my tears and Josh helped me calm down a little.

As we walked to Josh's workplace, we heard a weird high-pitched scream but I didn't think much of it.  We went up the elevator and when Josh opened the door, I saw my friend Daniel sitting in a chair in the dark and staring back at me.  Then Gavin and Jason popped their heads out from the kitchen area.  And then it occurred to me that Josh's story was all fake because he was throwing me a surprise!!!  He turned the lights on, and more and more of my friends emerged from their surprise hiding spots!

The view from the surprised birthday girl's boyfriend
At around 4 P.M., Josh told me that he was going to take a nap because he had a fever.  Yes, he had a fever; no, he did not take a nap.  Instead he drove to Porto's Bakery to buy me not one, but TWO birthday cakes  He wanted the message (Happy 21st Birthday, Beefcake!) to appear on both of the cakes like the following:  

source for clipart 

But that confused the Porto's people and they ended up writing Happy 21st Beef!  Birthday Cake!

Hahahahahahaha!  So he just had them write the message on one cake.

 

During that time, Josh messaged my friends Andi and Jessie and asked them to invite as many people for the big surprise.  When Josh got back that night, he took some juice and pink lemonade out of the fridge in case I wanted any and hid the cakes in the fridge (smart move because I was so close to reaching into the fridge myself, and then the surprise would've been ruined).  

As he played his computer game, he contemplated how he would sneak the cakes and stuff out of his room without me noticing.  But when he turned around to see what I was doing, he fortunately saw that I had fallen asleep!  He packed away the cakes, cups, plates, drinks, and speakers for music into a duffel bag and left to "go to work."  He swiped my friends into the common area at his workplace, set up a little, and gave dry-erase markers to my friends so they could decorate the whiteboards in the room.  

Then he called me, fabricated a tragic story (because Andi was so sure that I had a hunch about what was happening), and picked me up.  He told me he was "texting his boss" to let him know about the situation (as I was internally freaking out that Josh would lose his job because his freaking flies died), but he was actually texting Andi to let them all know that we were leaving his place.  As I cried in the car, Josh remained silent and looked away from me, causing me to cry even more, but he was actually holding back laughter and smiling in the other direction.  Half of him wanted to keep me crying so that I'd be really surprised, but he didn't want to seem like a complete monster so he tried to cheer me up first.  However, since he was calming me down, he didn't have time to send a text in the elevator to let my friends know that we were almost there, hence the awkwardness when we opened the door because my friends weren't exactly sure when to expect our entrance (but I think Renee and Jenn saw us approaching because they emitted that weird high-pitched scream we had heard).

In conclusion

My friends threw me an amazing and awesome surprise birthday party.  Even though we were all swamped with work (it was the first week back from spring break), they found the time to make my day so special, and I am thankful beyond words for their thoughtfulness.

Peter Pan and Tinkerbell!  They know us so well!  (confession: I had mistaken Peter Pan for Legolas at first.  I can't suppress the 10 year old Orlando Bloom lover in me).

"Happy birthday" in French and Chinese....

Hawaiian...

AND Japanese!

Hello Kitty's galore!!!

Once again to everyone involved, THANK YOU!  Josh, Andi, Jason, Andrea, Gavin, Lauren, Daniel, Brandon, Renee, Jenn, and everyone who tried to make it but couldn't (Jessie, Amara, etc.): I loved the drawings, your company, the cakes- THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!  Best birthday gift ever!

Part 2: The Day Of

 I received a very sweet birthday card from my mommy, and a really touching Facebook status shout-out from Leslie.  Luckily, my WRIT340 paper was postponed so I only had to go to one class that day (my writing class that I love!).

At night, I went to dinner at Boiling Crab with Josh, his sister Jueun, and her boyfriend Henry.

And of course, I had to buy my first bottle of alcohol- sangria!  Too bad the cashier wasn't as excited as I was. 

Part 3: The Saturday After

Although our schedules are super busy, I try to find as much time to hang out with Leslie and Matt as possible.  On Saturday, we spent the night playing games at Dave and Buster's!  Considering their love for stuffed animals and our competitiveness, we had six hours of fun!  

I had to start the night off with a drink, so Josh bought me my very first one!  It was called Walk the Plank (Captain Morgan Original Spiced Rum, Malibu Coconut rum, peach schnapps, Bacardi 151, pineapple juice, orange juice and pomegranate syrup).

Sweet and pretty!

Our favorite D&B games: Monopoly, basketball, Deal or No Deal (even though we're not very good at it), and this random spinny wheel game thing.  I don't know how to describe it, but it had a lot of lights and I won the jackpot on it!!

Drink #2: Long Island Peach Tea.  Soooo good!  By then, I was embracing the glory of Asian glow.  I started hiccuping too, but after I got over the hiccups, I was sober again.  Heehee!

Thank you for the awesome gifts, Leslie and Matt!  I don't have many pictures, but I really appreciate them!

Matt and Leslie's D&B prize: a giraffe stuffed animal that's taller than me!

 We kind of gave the guy a hard time though because he had to climb a ladder to get the giraffe.  Haha whoops!

Josh's prize for me: a Hello Kitty backpack and Hello Kitty headband!!  He has a bunch of points saved up but I didn't want anything big.

my last post as a 20 year old

AHHHHHHH!

Also,

Happy 137th birthday, Harry Houdini!

I share my birthday with some people like Lara Flynn Boyle, Peyton Manning, Keisha Castle-Hughes, Mase, Steve McQueen, "99 Luftballoons" singer Nena, Norman Fell (Three's Company landlord Mr. Roper), and Tommy Hilfiger!

The work of artist Sam Brown at Explodingdog

see more here

spring break recap: a week of noms!

Over spring break, Josh and I took advantage of our free time and decided to cook!  It's a shame that I can't cook more during school because I don't have the time or energy to grocery shop and clean the dishes.  I'd really like to change that soon so I can get into the swing of a healthy diet.

I forgot to take pictures of any of the dishes we made, but I'll try to find as many recipes and pictures online to tantalize your taste buds.  We limited ourselves to a $100 budget between Ralph's and a Korean supermarket.  Here's what we came up with!

Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

Savory Sweet Life has loads of easy recipes including stuffed portabella mushrooms!  They're really easy and delicious!  Just be sure to really squeeze out the excess water in the spinach.  Combined with the liquid from the mushrooms as they cooked, mine came out a little watery....but still yummy!

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A recipe I learned from my mom- Egg Salad with Arugula on a slice of Toasted Sourdough Bread.  Super easy again, and it lasts for a while.  Josh and I ate this for three days without getting sick of it.  Make a bowl of egg salad, spread a little on a toasted slice of sourdough (add cheese if you'd like), and pile a heap of arugula on top.  Drizzle with olive oil and sink your teeth into deliciousness!  You can make it a sandwich by adding another slice of sourdough on top of the arugula, but I kinda enjoy having the greens really smother my face whenever I take a bite.  Maybe I should make a post about etiquette soon...

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Josh made a Kimchi Stew and Kimchi Fried Rice feast!  Again, we ate this for lunch and dinner without getting tired of it. 

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Trader Joe's frozen wild pacific salmon always makes me happy.  Coupled with bowtie pasta (cooked in the leftover marinade from the fish and drenched with lemon juice), it's a light but filling dinner.

 

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Mapo doufu is one of my favorite Chinese comfort foods.  Again learned from my mommy, I made the sauce from scratch: chili bean paste, water, oyster sauce, and cornstarch.

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Ok, so we didn't make a peach pie.  We splurged and bought one at Ralph's because the day we went grocery shopping was Tues., 3/14 a.k.a. Pi Day!  We HAD to celebrate!

insert caption

Josh: Pew!  Pew pew!!  I'm sooo good at this!  Zurg's got nothing on me!  Daphne is going down!
Me:  What is happening.  Why is my score so low.  There are sooo many digits in Josh's score.  Why aren't we playing Boggle.

some pictures never get old

culture night 2011 recap

Last Sunday (March 6) was USC Nikkei's Culture Night, and it has taken me this long to recover from the stress and chaos to compose this blog post.  CN was about a month earlier than normal so it was truly a marathon.  In addition to being Artistic Director and Media Producer like last year, I was also the Scriptwriter.

Our shows always incorporate a creative aspect along with a serious issue.  In a nutshell, the theme this year was magic and newspapers.  Rafu Shimpo is a struggling Japanese American newspaper in Los Angeles' Little Tokyo.  Last year, they announced their financial difficulties publicly, and the community has been pulling together to save it.  When I read about it in the L.A. Times, I knew that I wanted to write a show about Rafu.  Its rich history is becoming lost as the older generations are aging.  The newspaper industry in general is becoming overtaken by the free and instant news provided by the internet.  As a writer, I wanted to spread awareness about the value of newspapers both as a source of information and as a treasured representation of the community- past, present, and future, whether in print or in digital archives.

The show was titled "If You Wish" and followed Vince, a college dropout, and Ruby, a writer for Rafu Shimpo.  Through a twist of fate, both become recipients of winning raffle tickets.  The prize: one wish granted by a professional Genie.  Two winners, one prize, huh?  Vince and Ruby must negotiate a compromise before the wish expires in two weeks.  As they attempt to find a solution, Vince realizes that his problems are petty in the scope of Rafu Shimpo's problems.  He even learns that his ties to Rafu are stronger than he had ever imagined.  In the end, Vince and Ruby agree on a wish and move forward with hope as they work to preserve Rafu Shimpo.

I worked on the script for almost a year.  I outlined and wrote the bulk of it during the summer when I volunteered at the library where my mom works.  In the mornings, she would be busy at her computer while I wrote at her desk and waited for my supervisor to come in at around 10:00.  Bits of it were also written on plane rides to and from Chicago, or in my sister's bunk bed during the commercial breaks when we watched "Everybody Loves Raymond."  Most of Act II was written on the Nikkei ski trip over MLK weekend.  The Golden Globes were airing live on the TV behind me as I typed away on my computer, determined to finish the script in the tradition of Sean finishing CN scripts during ski trip.

It blew my mind to watch the characters come life and watch the plot unfold.  I filled the script with inside jokes and my personal touch.  For example, the characters of the grandparents were based on my parents, and I loved seeing the audience's reactions to their comic relief.  Writing the show and absorbing the audience's reaction on March 6 reminded me of how much power the written word commands.  It gives me the power to entertain, to make people laugh, and most of all, to make people think.  My heart is filled with so much gratitude for people's gracious responses to the show, to everyone who said that it was fun and made them laugh, to Sean who told me that he couldn't have thought of a better ending or a better scriptwriter, to a senior who would like to remain anonymous and sent me a Facebook message that night to tell me, "just wanted to say CONGRATS on (don't tell anyone else this) what I think was the best CN/script ever!"
 

 

 

This year wasn't perfect (biggest bummer: the camcorder battery died in Act II and I didn't know about it because I was too busy backstage so we're missing about three scenes).  There is a lot more we could have improved upon if we had more time,  but it was all I could have asked for, and I am so thankful for everyone involved and for everyone who encouraged me along the way.  Writing a script, filming and editing footage, and making artistic decisions is no easy task, and every bit of support made it all worthwhile.

Next year, I'm planning to be the official Culture Night director.  I was pretty set on NOT being CN Director, but the exhilaration of creating a show and seeing people's responses is something that I can't get enough of.  I've been a part of CN since my freshman year, each year learning more and thinking about how I can make it better the following year.  Yes, it will be my senior year and I will also be very focused on my senior IML thesis, but that's not holding me back.

Some of my favorite college memories have been a result of Culture Night.  I made my first friends at USC because of it.  I want to continue fostering this sense of friendship as we unite to voice a deeper message.

The following are a few promos and video transitions I made for the show.  They might not make sense out of context, but I think you can still get a laugh out of them.  There is one more video (the curtain call that we like to call TED [The Everybody Dance]) that my friend Jessie and I are still editing.  The TED version that we showed that night was very roughly spliced.  I'll post it when we finish it!






I know this video is a little slow, but I wasn't using the ideal video editing software so I couldn't adjust the frame rate to a smaller increment.  I could go back to speed it up now, but I'm too lazy to re-edit the sound effects.  Sorry!