--from 7:30am to 9:00am
--caffeine does work
Don't tell Mum.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Friday, April 16, 2010
New Favorite Musical Artist: A Fine Frenzy
A Fine Frenzy is my new music obsession, especially her song "Blow Away." A few weeks back it was "What I Wouldn't Do" and "Almost Lover," both still very very good songs. I usually get tired of song obsessions too quickly for my liking, but I still love these.
Here are some of my favorite pictures of Alison Sudol, the lead singer of A Fine Frenzy:
The picture from her debut album, One Cell in the Sea
I love her dress and her boots here. And everything about this picture, actually.
Here are some of my favorite pictures of Alison Sudol, the lead singer of A Fine Frenzy:
The picture from her debut album, One Cell in the Sea
I love her dress and her boots here. And everything about this picture, actually.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Berkeley!
Yesterday I woke up at 6am to catch a 7:30 train to the Pre-Pharmacy Symposium at Berkeley, which was kind of enlightening but not as much as I'd hoped. I still don't get what pharmacists do, besides the guy behind the counter at Walgreens. Apparently they counsel patients about how their drugs could interact with each other or adjusting dosages or things like that. Stuff that my doctor does. I don't get it.
The symposium ended at 5, so I called up A and D for dinner and general socializing. I visited A at her dorm (which looks totally like in her pictures! wow I'm such a stalker), and then we went to D's room across the street. Both of them lived on a really tall floor, in a seven- or eight-story building (!). And then and then and then you know the pink Alena Skirt I was stalking? I had gone to Anthro on Thursday to get it, but there wasn't one in my size! (So I got a pair of black Hue tights. But I digress.) However, Berkeley has an Anthro, and we called them up, and they DO have a size 6 Alena skirt! We put a hold on it, and A and D are getting it for me today! Eeeee I'm so excited...I have such great friends :)
Afterward, we went to eat dinner at this little alleyway lined with restaurants. We each ordered a different type of dish, and then we tried each others'. I now know what GOOD he fun (chow fun?) with broccoli tastes like. It's actually kind of sweet. And then we went to Yogurtland, although it was cold and freezing outside. It's basically like L'Amour, but cheaper (30 cents per ounce rather than 47), and with mochi toppings. :9 When we went back to D's room, she showed me her MUA product-planning lists, which are even more OCD than mine. I was very impressed and am considering upping the OCD on my own lists >:)
When it came time to go home, I waited at the bus stop for a bit, but when the bus failed to show, I just walked to the BART station (and I think the bus arrived right after I left). I missed the outgoing BART by about a minute - I was on the ground level and I heard it leave below my feet. Thankfully, I had built some slack in my transportation schedule, because I didn't know that you could transfer directly across a platform instead of waiting 20 minutes for the transfer train to show. Turns out, it was probably good that I took the later BART, because I got to the Caltrain station at the right time. It was freezing and I had not brought a jacket (silly me). There was this very gregarious and slightly crazy guy on the platform, and he started talking to people out of boredom (the train was rather late), including me. He asked about the IHUM reader I was holding (btw - I finished all my IHUM reading on the trains!), and I was trying to make polite conversation while being slightly freaked out, cold, and a little sleepy. He turned out to be harmless (I think), just really bored.
When I got off the Caltrain, I realized that I had parked my bike on the far side of the tracks. Note to self: when parking your bike at a train station, go across the tracks to park it so that you don't have to cross back later to get it. It's less scary going to the other side of the tracks in the morning than it is late at night.
All in all, quite a fun day. Back-heavy, but still fun.
The symposium ended at 5, so I called up A and D for dinner and general socializing. I visited A at her dorm (which looks totally like in her pictures! wow I'm such a stalker), and then we went to D's room across the street. Both of them lived on a really tall floor, in a seven- or eight-story building (!). And then and then and then you know the pink Alena Skirt I was stalking? I had gone to Anthro on Thursday to get it, but there wasn't one in my size! (So I got a pair of black Hue tights. But I digress.) However, Berkeley has an Anthro, and we called them up, and they DO have a size 6 Alena skirt! We put a hold on it, and A and D are getting it for me today! Eeeee I'm so excited...I have such great friends :)
Afterward, we went to eat dinner at this little alleyway lined with restaurants. We each ordered a different type of dish, and then we tried each others'. I now know what GOOD he fun (chow fun?) with broccoli tastes like. It's actually kind of sweet. And then we went to Yogurtland, although it was cold and freezing outside. It's basically like L'Amour, but cheaper (30 cents per ounce rather than 47), and with mochi toppings. :9 When we went back to D's room, she showed me her MUA product-planning lists, which are even more OCD than mine. I was very impressed and am considering upping the OCD on my own lists >:)
When it came time to go home, I waited at the bus stop for a bit, but when the bus failed to show, I just walked to the BART station (and I think the bus arrived right after I left). I missed the outgoing BART by about a minute - I was on the ground level and I heard it leave below my feet. Thankfully, I had built some slack in my transportation schedule, because I didn't know that you could transfer directly across a platform instead of waiting 20 minutes for the transfer train to show. Turns out, it was probably good that I took the later BART, because I got to the Caltrain station at the right time. It was freezing and I had not brought a jacket (silly me). There was this very gregarious and slightly crazy guy on the platform, and he started talking to people out of boredom (the train was rather late), including me. He asked about the IHUM reader I was holding (btw - I finished all my IHUM reading on the trains!), and I was trying to make polite conversation while being slightly freaked out, cold, and a little sleepy. He turned out to be harmless (I think), just really bored.
When I got off the Caltrain, I realized that I had parked my bike on the far side of the tracks. Note to self: when parking your bike at a train station, go across the tracks to park it so that you don't have to cross back later to get it. It's less scary going to the other side of the tracks in the morning than it is late at night.
All in all, quite a fun day. Back-heavy, but still fun.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Here Comes the Sun
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun,
and I say it's all right
Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter
Little darling, it feels like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
and I say it's all right
Little darling, the smiles returning to the faces
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
and I say it's all right
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...
Little darling, I feel that ice is slowly melting
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been clear
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun,
and I say it's all right
It's all right
I don't know whether I'm looking forward to this quarter. I'm taking the maximum number of units allowed, but they're all fun classes - to me, anyways. Intro to Psych (my first psych class! so excited. I hope it doesn't deter me from the field), o-chem (they say this course is easier and more interesting than last quarter, which was already pretty interesting to me), chem lab (my first chem lab! my first lab in general, actually!), music theory (super easy now but should get a lot more interesting later on, according to the syllabus), and Chinese medicine (just because it sounds cool). I also have IHUM, but, you know, I can't help that. At least mine's more interesting than the other IHUMs. At least in the beginning. It's an archaeology IHUM, and we talk about local history - my favorite kind of history, which is my favorite area of the humanities.
This blog post has wayyy too much cheery in it. To balance it out, it was raining today and I was wearing my Target Frye knockoffs to walk to classes, from classes, to the bookstore, back to my dorm, and to the post office and back. (My wayfarers were just delivered this afternoon but I can't get them yet...grrr.) Anyways, I love my Target boots but they're slightly too big and my foot slips around in them. All that walking rubbed a blister in each of my pinky toes :( I'm going to get insoles tomorrow; hopefully that will help. Plus I wore my hair in a ponytail today and when I tilt my head forward to write or read or whatever, my bangs fall forward into my eyes. As a result, a horizontal strip of scalp appears between my bangs and the rest of my pulled-back hair. I don't know how to get rid of that effect :( Plus I haven't been exercising at all since I got back from LA. I really want to work on my abs region but I'm not sure how.
and I say it's all right
Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter
Little darling, it feels like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
and I say it's all right
Little darling, the smiles returning to the faces
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
and I say it's all right
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...
Little darling, I feel that ice is slowly melting
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been clear
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun,
and I say it's all right
It's all right
I don't know whether I'm looking forward to this quarter. I'm taking the maximum number of units allowed, but they're all fun classes - to me, anyways. Intro to Psych (my first psych class! so excited. I hope it doesn't deter me from the field), o-chem (they say this course is easier and more interesting than last quarter, which was already pretty interesting to me), chem lab (my first chem lab! my first lab in general, actually!), music theory (super easy now but should get a lot more interesting later on, according to the syllabus), and Chinese medicine (just because it sounds cool). I also have IHUM, but, you know, I can't help that. At least mine's more interesting than the other IHUMs. At least in the beginning. It's an archaeology IHUM, and we talk about local history - my favorite kind of history, which is my favorite area of the humanities.
This blog post has wayyy too much cheery in it. To balance it out, it was raining today and I was wearing my Target Frye knockoffs to walk to classes, from classes, to the bookstore, back to my dorm, and to the post office and back. (My wayfarers were just delivered this afternoon but I can't get them yet...grrr.) Anyways, I love my Target boots but they're slightly too big and my foot slips around in them. All that walking rubbed a blister in each of my pinky toes :( I'm going to get insoles tomorrow; hopefully that will help. Plus I wore my hair in a ponytail today and when I tilt my head forward to write or read or whatever, my bangs fall forward into my eyes. As a result, a horizontal strip of scalp appears between my bangs and the rest of my pulled-back hair. I don't know how to get rid of that effect :( Plus I haven't been exercising at all since I got back from LA. I really want to work on my abs region but I'm not sure how.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Anthropologie
I've never really paid much attention to Anthropologie, partly because its clothes are quite often not my style. Plus they are waaay pricey. However! However. Some of them are to die for. Observe:
Drifting By Dress. $168 by Burlapp. Item #033035. It's the one Anthroholic was so crazy about, but I was too wide/short for it, so it made me look dumpy. :'( If it was the same dress but built for my size, I would love it so so much.
(front)
(back)
Chantico Tank. $88 by Bailey 44. Item #013148. I haven't seen this one in person though.
(front)
(back)
Or in white:
Alena Skirt. $88 by Odille. Item #18112011. I have another Odille skirt, and judging by these two skirts, I declare Odille the best Anthro skirt brand. Ever.
I found the medium pink one (above) in at the Anthro in the Americana in Glendale. It's actually more blush/nude. I tried it on (size 6), and I thought it fit okay, maybe a little long (I usually cross out any skirt/dress longer than knee-length, because they make me look even shorter and stumpier than usual). I didn't think it was that great. I took some pictures for future reference. When I was looking through my LA pictures today, however, I can't believe I ever felt that way. It actually looks so much better in the pictures. Check it out:
not tucked in
tucked in
AAAAAAHHHHH I love it. Except it's $88 TT__TT. I guess that makes me feel better about not getting it back then.
Drifting By Dress. $168 by Burlapp. Item #033035. It's the one Anthroholic was so crazy about, but I was too wide/short for it, so it made me look dumpy. :'( If it was the same dress but built for my size, I would love it so so much.
(front)
(back)
Chantico Tank. $88 by Bailey 44. Item #013148. I haven't seen this one in person though.
(front)
(back)
Or in white:
Alena Skirt. $88 by Odille. Item #18112011. I have another Odille skirt, and judging by these two skirts, I declare Odille the best Anthro skirt brand. Ever.
I found the medium pink one (above) in at the Anthro in the Americana in Glendale. It's actually more blush/nude. I tried it on (size 6), and I thought it fit okay, maybe a little long (I usually cross out any skirt/dress longer than knee-length, because they make me look even shorter and stumpier than usual). I didn't think it was that great. I took some pictures for future reference. When I was looking through my LA pictures today, however, I can't believe I ever felt that way. It actually looks so much better in the pictures. Check it out:
not tucked in
tucked in
AAAAAAHHHHH I love it. Except it's $88 TT__TT. I guess that makes me feel better about not getting it back then.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Spring Break in Los Angeles
Whew! Just came back from a week-long vacation (yes-seven full days, or rather, six full days and two half-days) in Los Angeles with B, J, JC, and S! I think it's the longest vacation I've taken in a long time. Usually my family vacations are about five days long. Here is a short recap of what we did:
Day 1 (Saturday, March 20)
We touched down in LAX just before noon and got picked up by Mr. En, our driver for most of the week. He only spoke Mandarin; I still don't know how much English he speaks. B and J swear he doesn't speak a word and tended to talk in English about him in the car (nothing that mean, but still). He didn't seem to mind. It was kind of bad that he didn't speak English, because although most of us can understand Mandarin (although J is Burmese and JC is Korean), S is fully un-Asian and does not speak it at all.
Anyways. The five of us were dropped off at Hollywood Blvd for the afternoon, and we visited the Kodak Theatre (which I did not know was home to the Oscars every year until after we left!) and the Chinese Theater (which I am still not sure what it's famous for). At the Hollywood & Highland Center, where the Kodak Theatre is located, we had lunch at California Pizza Kitchen (great pizza, by the way. and good pasta.). Wile we were waiting for our table, we took pictures of the Hollywood sign in the distance:
Then we checked into our slightly ghetto hotel in Monterey Park. We had five people staying in a room meant for four people, so we had to enter in two groups so that the hotel management wouldn't see that we were breaking the rules. I also had to sleep with J and S in one bed because we didn't have enough space. That night we slept lengthwise, but after that we slept horizontally across the bed to have more elbow room. Anyways, we went to buy snacks/breakfast goods at CVS and a nearby Asian supermarket - Monterey Park is predominately Asian, so it wasn't hard to find one. B, J, and JC got a little overexcited with Asian snacks:
At the CVS I also found the Chile Limón Lays I was hunting for, and they were quite awesome.
Day 2 (Sunday, March 21)
Sunday was our Universal Studios day. We went to all the rides and exhibitions/shows (or at least, the group did. I skipped the two scariest rides. Typical me.) We went on the studio tour, which I found ten times more interesting and less scary than the last time I went on it (ten years ago). I think they may have made it more interesting, but mostly I understand more movie references now and I pay more attention to the tour guide. I also don't think I understood that those building facades were where actual films were shot. Now I wish I got pictures of the streets of Europe, New York, London, and places around the world. So pretty. Here's a pic of Magic Village, although I'm not sure what movie it's from.
Here's a picture of the other thing I remember well about Universal Studios: the glass escalators.
Another fun fact: last time I was here, I got this silver dolphin bracelet with purple, blue, and green inlays, and I really liked it for some time. I had forgotten all about it until I walked to the area where the shop used to be, in the lower end of the park, near the special effects and pyrotechnics show. When I walked there I immediately recognized the area, but the shop's location now houses one of those places where you can buy pictures of yourself taken on a ride - I think it was the Mummy ride. However, I went to another souvenir shop nearby and found the exact same style of bracelet, but with slightly different dolphins. I knew it was made by the same company because it had the same clasp as my bracelet. True story. After ten years, I guess Universal Studios still has the same kinds of souvenirs (although others are different, of course).
That night, we went to a hot pot place near our hotel. It was a place with individual pots, because we were tired of figuring out how to split a bill. This place is so awesome. You pay for small plates of raw materials like chopped pork or scallops or mushrooms, and then you either boil the food in broth using the pot side of the hot pot, or you can stir-fry it on the front pan-like side. Check it out:
Before
After
Mmmm... so good :9 I used some of the stir-fry techniques I learned from Daddy last summer. The only thing is that I always wore long gloves when cooking because I'm terrified of hot oil spattering on my arms. Here, I just held the chopsticks far away from the pot and hoped for the best. I did get a few oil spatters, but it wasn't too bad. It was quite delicious.
Day 3 (Monday, March 22)
We were originally supposed to go to the Farmer's Market and The Grove in West Hollywood, along with numerous other lesser-known tourist spots. However, our tour guide would have been our driver, who only spoke Chinese. We decided to save money and get dropped off at a shopping mall in Glendale. (The Grove is also a shopping district, so we did in fact save money.) We went to the Americana at Brand in Glendale (I don't understand that name) and the Glendale Galleria. The Americana is an outdoor shopping place with a Forever 21, H&M, Anthro, Urban Outfitters, Martin & Osa, and some other places. Glendale Galleria is just across the street, and it's your typical run-of-the-mill mall. It's similar to Valley Fair. It also has a Forever 21, interestingly. Those folks must rake in a helluva lot of money to open up two stores in the same quarter-mile vicinity.
This is what the Americana looks like:
The fountain is cool and it has spouty shows sometimes.
I got two v-neck tees from Forever 21, in bright pink and light yellow, the two colors of tees I wanted to perk up my wardrobe ^_^ I also got this peachy pink cardigan, and it's super super thin so I don't think it's too durable, but I really like. I also tried on some other stuff at H&M, Anthro, Aero, and American Eagle. Observe this shirt from AE:
I like it from this angle but I'm not feeling it from the front view. Plus it's normal price, not extraordinarily cheap.
That night, after a day of shopping, we went to the KT Cafe because it was recommended by the driver. It's this Asian food cafe, not unlike Ban Mu Yuan. I got Za Cai Rou Si Mian, since I haven't had it in ages.
It was excellent. A nice foray into the past.
Day 4 (Tuesday, March 23)
DISNEYLAND!!
This was the day I was looking forward to the most.I hadn't been to Disneyland for about ten years. It was really cool to go back and see how the actual park differed from what I remembered. The rides were definitely less scary than I had remembered, although I realize now that I don't remember seeing any of the roller coasters when I was younger. I never went on them, so I never ventured there.
Disneyland was a lot smaller than I remembered, which is unsurprising because everything looks bigger when you're a kid. We hit all the major rides (the big kid rides!): Indiana Jones, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Matterhorn Bobsleds, Space Mountain, and Splash Mountain. We also went on Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise, Star Tours, It's a Small World, Mad Tea Party (the spinning teacups), and Haunted Mansion at night. Pretty productive, I'd say :)
We ate lunch at the bread-bowl clam chowder place in New Orleans Square:
"Hey, let's all get bread bowls!"
I ate the whole thing, unlike the others, who lost interest after they ran out of soup. Remember kids: always deconstruct (eat) the bowl as you're eating the soup! That way you won't run out of soup too early, and you won't be unmotivated to finish your $9 bread bowl.
Mid-afternoon snack: Gibson Girl Ice Cream Parlor in Main Street, U.S.A. (because everyone was hungry from not finishing lunch).
This is the first time I consciously chose mint chocolate chip ice cream out of a variety of well-qualified contenders. It was quite delicious. I should do it more often.
And...and...oh baby! Random pictures of each of the eight themed lands!
Main Street, U.S.A.
Adventureland:
Frontierland:
Fantasyland:
Tomorrowland:
New Orleans Square:
Critter Country:
Toontown:
We ended this glorious day with what could only be described as the best fireworks display I've ever seen. Here's the Fantasyland entrance castle right before it started:
The fireworks lasted about 20 minutes, and it was simply awesome. AWESOME. There were sections based on different rides (Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean, something in Tomorrowland), and it ended with "When You Wish Upon a Star" (I think). Even though towards the end we were weaving through the crowd, running to catch the tram before the flood of people, we kept looking over our shoulders at the fireworks.
EPIC.
Day 5 (Wednesday, March 24)
Wednesday was the schism day. J and JC wanted to go to Six Flags Magic Mountain, where the REAL roller coasters were. However, that was beyond the range of our driver, so they had to take public transportation, transferring from buses to trains to buses for over an hour. B, S, and I decided not to go, partly because we didn't want to do that whole public transportation biznatch. But mainly it was because B and I are terrified of roller coasters. Even Space Mountain is juuuust a little above my comfort level (but that was due to the constant lateral jerking, and plus it was, you know, in the dark). So, we went to the Farmer's Market/the Grove, which we were supposed to go to on Monday, and Melrose Avenue, famous for lesser-known vintage/thrift shops. It's sort of like the Haight in San Francisco.
Before we went shopping, we saw Alice in Wonderland in 3D at the Pacific Theaters at the Grove. I did rather like it, but I did *hate* Avril Lavigne's song "Alice." It sounds like she's somewhere between whining, complaining, and in pain. I do love her other songs, just not this one.
I got this white Nike tennis skirt I've been lusting after for two years at Out of the Closet, for $3.75! And it fit! The tag was cut off but I'm pretty sure it was a medium. I would have preferred a small, but I can wear a medium too. Here it is on me in May 2008:
It came kind of sweat-stained, but with some bleach at home it was fine. Such a good deal! Full price, it would be $55.
We also went to some other Melrose-specific places, whose names escape me. I didn't see anything I liked there, but B and S both each got a dress.
For dinner, we ate at Goodfellas, an Italian restaurant, where I ate fettuccine Alfredo. And oldie but goodie, I tell you. We ordered a bit late, and we wolfed down our dinner as the driver came.
Day 6 (Thursday, March 25)
On Thursday we all went to Rodeo Drive. It was pretty cool to see that we were on this famous shopping district, with all the high-end shops concentrated in this small area. Pretty much every store was strategically lighted and only had like 10 items inside, and several shops had a suit-wearing guard in front. It was pretty hardcore. We went to Cheesecake Factory for lunch (seriously, there are Cheesecake Factories everywhere in LA), and I had a lunch-portion Shepherd's Pie. It is basically everything I love in one dish: ground beef with carrots and peas in a brown sauce, covered with a mashed-potato layer and topped with some melted cheese. What's not to like?
Later on that day, we changed hotels. We moved to a Marriott in Marina Del Rey, near Venice Beach. We paid the driver for the week in cash, except I didn't bring enough cash. I had to borrow the money from one of the others :(
When we got to the hotel, B (and I, secretly) was super excited to find out that there was a mini-mall across the stree, as well as some patches of restaurants. We chillaxed and ate dinner around the hotel, and B and S caught the midnight premier screening of How to Train Your Dragon, which they said was Awesome.
Day 7 (Friday, March 26)
Beach day!
We went to Venice Beach for our last day in the LA area, and it was kind of freezing. We stayed all the way to 7pm or so, so that we could see a sunset on the beach :) It was quite beautiful. I took many, many pics; check FB. There was a boardwalk, where we went to eat lunch. Outside the sidewalk cafe, there was this black upright piano and a rotund blond(e) ponytailed person playing it. We debated whether it was a male or female. The ending consensus was male, although we couldn't be sure. When he was playing, I was even skeptical that it was a real person, as opposed to a wax replica and speakers. The guy pretty much only moved his fingers, and he stayed hunched over for quite a while.
After our day at the beach, we went to eat at a Singapore cafe. According to J, the best/most traditional Singaporean food was "chicken rice."
And that pretty much sums up the trip! :)
Day 1 (Saturday, March 20)
We touched down in LAX just before noon and got picked up by Mr. En, our driver for most of the week. He only spoke Mandarin; I still don't know how much English he speaks. B and J swear he doesn't speak a word and tended to talk in English about him in the car (nothing that mean, but still). He didn't seem to mind. It was kind of bad that he didn't speak English, because although most of us can understand Mandarin (although J is Burmese and JC is Korean), S is fully un-Asian and does not speak it at all.
Anyways. The five of us were dropped off at Hollywood Blvd for the afternoon, and we visited the Kodak Theatre (which I did not know was home to the Oscars every year until after we left!) and the Chinese Theater (which I am still not sure what it's famous for). At the Hollywood & Highland Center, where the Kodak Theatre is located, we had lunch at California Pizza Kitchen (great pizza, by the way. and good pasta.). Wile we were waiting for our table, we took pictures of the Hollywood sign in the distance:
Then we checked into our slightly ghetto hotel in Monterey Park. We had five people staying in a room meant for four people, so we had to enter in two groups so that the hotel management wouldn't see that we were breaking the rules. I also had to sleep with J and S in one bed because we didn't have enough space. That night we slept lengthwise, but after that we slept horizontally across the bed to have more elbow room. Anyways, we went to buy snacks/breakfast goods at CVS and a nearby Asian supermarket - Monterey Park is predominately Asian, so it wasn't hard to find one. B, J, and JC got a little overexcited with Asian snacks:
At the CVS I also found the Chile Limón Lays I was hunting for, and they were quite awesome.
Day 2 (Sunday, March 21)
Sunday was our Universal Studios day. We went to all the rides and exhibitions/shows (or at least, the group did. I skipped the two scariest rides. Typical me.) We went on the studio tour, which I found ten times more interesting and less scary than the last time I went on it (ten years ago). I think they may have made it more interesting, but mostly I understand more movie references now and I pay more attention to the tour guide. I also don't think I understood that those building facades were where actual films were shot. Now I wish I got pictures of the streets of Europe, New York, London, and places around the world. So pretty. Here's a pic of Magic Village, although I'm not sure what movie it's from.
Here's a picture of the other thing I remember well about Universal Studios: the glass escalators.
Another fun fact: last time I was here, I got this silver dolphin bracelet with purple, blue, and green inlays, and I really liked it for some time. I had forgotten all about it until I walked to the area where the shop used to be, in the lower end of the park, near the special effects and pyrotechnics show. When I walked there I immediately recognized the area, but the shop's location now houses one of those places where you can buy pictures of yourself taken on a ride - I think it was the Mummy ride. However, I went to another souvenir shop nearby and found the exact same style of bracelet, but with slightly different dolphins. I knew it was made by the same company because it had the same clasp as my bracelet. True story. After ten years, I guess Universal Studios still has the same kinds of souvenirs (although others are different, of course).
That night, we went to a hot pot place near our hotel. It was a place with individual pots, because we were tired of figuring out how to split a bill. This place is so awesome. You pay for small plates of raw materials like chopped pork or scallops or mushrooms, and then you either boil the food in broth using the pot side of the hot pot, or you can stir-fry it on the front pan-like side. Check it out:
Before
After
Mmmm... so good :9 I used some of the stir-fry techniques I learned from Daddy last summer. The only thing is that I always wore long gloves when cooking because I'm terrified of hot oil spattering on my arms. Here, I just held the chopsticks far away from the pot and hoped for the best. I did get a few oil spatters, but it wasn't too bad. It was quite delicious.
Day 3 (Monday, March 22)
We were originally supposed to go to the Farmer's Market and The Grove in West Hollywood, along with numerous other lesser-known tourist spots. However, our tour guide would have been our driver, who only spoke Chinese. We decided to save money and get dropped off at a shopping mall in Glendale. (The Grove is also a shopping district, so we did in fact save money.) We went to the Americana at Brand in Glendale (I don't understand that name) and the Glendale Galleria. The Americana is an outdoor shopping place with a Forever 21, H&M, Anthro, Urban Outfitters, Martin & Osa, and some other places. Glendale Galleria is just across the street, and it's your typical run-of-the-mill mall. It's similar to Valley Fair. It also has a Forever 21, interestingly. Those folks must rake in a helluva lot of money to open up two stores in the same quarter-mile vicinity.
This is what the Americana looks like:
The fountain is cool and it has spouty shows sometimes.
I got two v-neck tees from Forever 21, in bright pink and light yellow, the two colors of tees I wanted to perk up my wardrobe ^_^ I also got this peachy pink cardigan, and it's super super thin so I don't think it's too durable, but I really like. I also tried on some other stuff at H&M, Anthro, Aero, and American Eagle. Observe this shirt from AE:
I like it from this angle but I'm not feeling it from the front view. Plus it's normal price, not extraordinarily cheap.
That night, after a day of shopping, we went to the KT Cafe because it was recommended by the driver. It's this Asian food cafe, not unlike Ban Mu Yuan. I got Za Cai Rou Si Mian, since I haven't had it in ages.
It was excellent. A nice foray into the past.
Day 4 (Tuesday, March 23)
DISNEYLAND!!
This was the day I was looking forward to the most.I hadn't been to Disneyland for about ten years. It was really cool to go back and see how the actual park differed from what I remembered. The rides were definitely less scary than I had remembered, although I realize now that I don't remember seeing any of the roller coasters when I was younger. I never went on them, so I never ventured there.
Disneyland was a lot smaller than I remembered, which is unsurprising because everything looks bigger when you're a kid. We hit all the major rides (the big kid rides!): Indiana Jones, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Matterhorn Bobsleds, Space Mountain, and Splash Mountain. We also went on Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise, Star Tours, It's a Small World, Mad Tea Party (the spinning teacups), and Haunted Mansion at night. Pretty productive, I'd say :)
We ate lunch at the bread-bowl clam chowder place in New Orleans Square:
"Hey, let's all get bread bowls!"
I ate the whole thing, unlike the others, who lost interest after they ran out of soup. Remember kids: always deconstruct (eat) the bowl as you're eating the soup! That way you won't run out of soup too early, and you won't be unmotivated to finish your $9 bread bowl.
Mid-afternoon snack: Gibson Girl Ice Cream Parlor in Main Street, U.S.A. (because everyone was hungry from not finishing lunch).
This is the first time I consciously chose mint chocolate chip ice cream out of a variety of well-qualified contenders. It was quite delicious. I should do it more often.
And...and...oh baby! Random pictures of each of the eight themed lands!
Main Street, U.S.A.
Adventureland:
Frontierland:
Fantasyland:
Tomorrowland:
New Orleans Square:
Critter Country:
Toontown:
We ended this glorious day with what could only be described as the best fireworks display I've ever seen. Here's the Fantasyland entrance castle right before it started:
The fireworks lasted about 20 minutes, and it was simply awesome. AWESOME. There were sections based on different rides (Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean, something in Tomorrowland), and it ended with "When You Wish Upon a Star" (I think). Even though towards the end we were weaving through the crowd, running to catch the tram before the flood of people, we kept looking over our shoulders at the fireworks.
EPIC.
Day 5 (Wednesday, March 24)
Wednesday was the schism day. J and JC wanted to go to Six Flags Magic Mountain, where the REAL roller coasters were. However, that was beyond the range of our driver, so they had to take public transportation, transferring from buses to trains to buses for over an hour. B, S, and I decided not to go, partly because we didn't want to do that whole public transportation biznatch. But mainly it was because B and I are terrified of roller coasters. Even Space Mountain is juuuust a little above my comfort level (but that was due to the constant lateral jerking, and plus it was, you know, in the dark). So, we went to the Farmer's Market/the Grove, which we were supposed to go to on Monday, and Melrose Avenue, famous for lesser-known vintage/thrift shops. It's sort of like the Haight in San Francisco.
Before we went shopping, we saw Alice in Wonderland in 3D at the Pacific Theaters at the Grove. I did rather like it, but I did *hate* Avril Lavigne's song "Alice." It sounds like she's somewhere between whining, complaining, and in pain. I do love her other songs, just not this one.
I got this white Nike tennis skirt I've been lusting after for two years at Out of the Closet, for $3.75! And it fit! The tag was cut off but I'm pretty sure it was a medium. I would have preferred a small, but I can wear a medium too. Here it is on me in May 2008:
It came kind of sweat-stained, but with some bleach at home it was fine. Such a good deal! Full price, it would be $55.
We also went to some other Melrose-specific places, whose names escape me. I didn't see anything I liked there, but B and S both each got a dress.
For dinner, we ate at Goodfellas, an Italian restaurant, where I ate fettuccine Alfredo. And oldie but goodie, I tell you. We ordered a bit late, and we wolfed down our dinner as the driver came.
Day 6 (Thursday, March 25)
On Thursday we all went to Rodeo Drive. It was pretty cool to see that we were on this famous shopping district, with all the high-end shops concentrated in this small area. Pretty much every store was strategically lighted and only had like 10 items inside, and several shops had a suit-wearing guard in front. It was pretty hardcore. We went to Cheesecake Factory for lunch (seriously, there are Cheesecake Factories everywhere in LA), and I had a lunch-portion Shepherd's Pie. It is basically everything I love in one dish: ground beef with carrots and peas in a brown sauce, covered with a mashed-potato layer and topped with some melted cheese. What's not to like?
Later on that day, we changed hotels. We moved to a Marriott in Marina Del Rey, near Venice Beach. We paid the driver for the week in cash, except I didn't bring enough cash. I had to borrow the money from one of the others :(
When we got to the hotel, B (and I, secretly) was super excited to find out that there was a mini-mall across the stree, as well as some patches of restaurants. We chillaxed and ate dinner around the hotel, and B and S caught the midnight premier screening of How to Train Your Dragon, which they said was Awesome.
Day 7 (Friday, March 26)
Beach day!
We went to Venice Beach for our last day in the LA area, and it was kind of freezing. We stayed all the way to 7pm or so, so that we could see a sunset on the beach :) It was quite beautiful. I took many, many pics; check FB. There was a boardwalk, where we went to eat lunch. Outside the sidewalk cafe, there was this black upright piano and a rotund blond(e) ponytailed person playing it. We debated whether it was a male or female. The ending consensus was male, although we couldn't be sure. When he was playing, I was even skeptical that it was a real person, as opposed to a wax replica and speakers. The guy pretty much only moved his fingers, and he stayed hunched over for quite a while.
After our day at the beach, we went to eat at a Singapore cafe. According to J, the best/most traditional Singaporean food was "chicken rice."
And that pretty much sums up the trip! :)
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Bang!
I got a haircut yesterday, which was pretty exciting. I am now the proud owner of side-swept bangs! Except they're kind of driving me crazy, since they're always in my face. Plus I'm not sure I like them yet...they're kind of cut straight across (but they're parted to the side), so it looks like a weird angle sometimes. But otherwise I really like it.
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