advancing equality

asian american justice center, summer 2006

finally. it's here. the collective ridiculousness of 8 interns advancing equality in washington d.c... on youtube.

turn up your speakers & enjoy the presentation...

i miss you, you silly little asians.

big cigars, strong martinis, fantastic friends

above: my summer in d.c., basically.

BE A MAN.

michigan, our michigan

got back home to michigan yesterday afternoon and everything looked so small and felt so strange. it's weird coming back to suburbia when you've been in a city for the last few months. it was such a short amount of time but what i accomplished, who i met, the things i did - it all felt so concentrated. 10 weeks... gosh it feels like a dream... so much happened in such little time. it's hard to accept that it's over. *sigh* i loved my summer in d.c.

coming home is always nice though. there's something about familiarity and tradition that's very comforting... my mom is at mrs. oh's, making indian and korean food for a potluck they're having over the weekend. it's cute watching them laugh and joke around - two little asian women living in troy. and it's nice to see mrs. oh. i've always liked her a lot. and last night i spent the night at my sister's apartment. we fell asleep after watching project runway. i haven't done that with her in months.

comfort is dangerous though. for me, and i think for most people, when things get comfortable, we don't want to move, or change, or question. it'd be harder for me to pursue certain things if i was comfortable most of the time. maybe that's why i like to make things a little hard on myself. take the hard classes, go the road less traveled - it's more difficult but the struggle makes it valuable. i realize that sometimes i don't get things as easily as others do, but in the end i think it's even better.

i don't know how the topic of this post strayed so far, but i can say that it's a good foundation for my next post. i just made a big decision - a career and life-changing decision that a few of you already know about. and i guess to stay in step with the theme, it's one that takes me away from some incredibly comfortable aspects of my life. like i said before though, in the end, i think it'll be even better.

damn i'm gonna miss dc...

GOD project runway was SO good tonight!
and i watched 6 episodes of 24 at last friday's aajc slumber party. WOWOWOWOW.
oh, devil wears prada was sweet too.

hm... i'm gonna miss my roommates maria and andrea, and graden too. he's honorary. a fun roommate's boyfriend indeed. sad...

i'm kind of on overload right now. i don't want to leave. not to be too real, but i kind of hate where my life is right now and d.c. is seriously keeping me afloat. i'm worried that when i leave, i'm gonna hit a wall and want to quit. quit what? i don't know. just quit. quit period. quit ___. quit. ...back to life. back to school. back to having to deal with life and school. ugh.

i think perhaps for the first time in my life, i don't want to move forward. what an awful thing. gosh i loathe that.

this post just got depressing. dammit. better luck tomorrow-

say cheese

i finally became part of the digital age last month when i got myself a digital camera. and i must say, it is an addictive piece of equipment. almost everywhere i go, there also goes my camera. in my purse, in my bag, tucked away in an $8 dorky camera sack is my new, shiny little camera.

to be sure, all my camera-lugging stems from a desire to want to document everything. in college, i took a lot of pictures my freshman year but rarely took any of the three years after. it's nice looking back at everything from freshman year, seeing all the friends i'd made then, capturing the first few months of our eternal friendship. gosh i love those pictures.

but i digress. the point is that i thought, "hey. i'm in d.c., seeing things i may never see again. i should get a digital camera." this makes sense.

what i didn't realize is how camera-happy i would become. it's like some weird feeling of power: "look at me. i have an incredible amount of memory and i'm gonna use it." i never have to worry about the limits of film. forget 36. i can hold 500. muhahahaha. ha.

this new "digital camera power" that's seemed to have taken over me is not new. understandably, most people with digitals take more pictures than the ordinary. but let's think about this. i mean, remember looking at your parents' photo albums? their college years - hell, their whole life can be seen in picture format in just a few albums. cameras were bigger; film was expensive. they could hardly take their giant camera out on an ordinary friday night at the bar. it'd be ridiculous.

but now i turn around at a happy hour and people are snapping away. actually, the group of us interns took a few shots while eating crabs yesterday. messy, dirty, gutted crabs. and we weren't the only ones trying to get a shot of our clearly life-changing event.

it's just interesting how our lives will pass down to our children. out of our 97098237458 pictures, which ones will we pick to show them? which moments will we treasure?

and is it that important to get it all on film? sometimes it's just better to have it in your head. in the end, the most memorable events of my life just aren't saved on film, you know?

i have no conclusions about this. it's not deep. i just think the rise of the digital age is magnifying what we can capture - what we can store. as long as we don't let the picture-taking get in the way of experiencing the moment.

it'll be interesting to see what it'll be like 20 years from now... and how many pictures i'll have taken.

warshington

i just wrote a whole entry and somehow lost it. grrr.

i will just say these few things:
i love my work.
i love my coworkers.
i love my boss.
i love this city.

goodnight. =)

the chronic (what?!) cles of narnia

the much promised chronicles of my adventures in d.c.
starting...

now.

with this picture of today's fortune cookie. hooollleeeeer.

busy little bees

true true. i've been a bit busy. mostly wrapped up in self-reflection. but also wrapped up in the hubbub of life here in d.c., where one out of every five people is an attorney and even the taxi cab drivers know more about political affairs than you do. it's exciting and tiring and even a bit silly knowing that i'm here. here in the land of double-ya and shitty government. every day, i am playing pool with the man. i can see why on average politicians live shorter lives - this work is invigorating but exhausting.

i have an unbelievable week ahead of me filled with lots of deadlines and little sleep so i'll have to push my updating to later this week or next week. don't be sad. d.c. will eventually get documented at some point or another.

more to come - formerly promised pictures, stories on a wasted suchin pak, and tips on taking the metro.

the most sumptuous

duuuuude. got some HOT stuff at victoria's secret today. muy muy caliente. it was like an asian american justice center ladies party this afternoon. we all left work around 6pm and magically, every one of us females went next door for the big bin sale. i went with connie and rukku and turned around to find pang hua. you should've seen the light in our eyes - we were gleaming with joy.

there is nothing like bra and panty bonding with your girls. the colors, the textures, the sheer bliss of push-up and v-string. seamless and strapless and halter. oh my! it's so fun. "ooooh it's red. and check out those strings. is that satin? where's that go... oh. hooooot." i love it. i think lingerie is just something that makes women feel sexy and attractive, and the best part is no matter whether a woman is attached, unattached, or something in between, she can do it for herself. it's empowering to know that you're donning the hottest little number under your suit - and it's even more empowering that no one but you knows. lingerie doesn't just have an effect on men - it has an effect on women. when a woman wears lingerie for herself, she radiates a quality of confidence and beauty. and let me tell you, every woman deserves to feel comfortable, lovely, and wanted.

yay for the panty! who knew so little could do so much.

i dream of panda

dear friends. i would like you to meet my friend - baby panda, tai shan. tai shan (meaning "peaceful mountain") was born july 9th, almost one year ago to the happy giant panda parents mei xiang and tian tian. he is healthy, happy, and as cute as can be.

i'd been planning on visiting tai shan for months now (shut up. they're my favorite animals), ever since i found out i was coming to d.c. for the summer. though i'd planned on visiting little tai shan around my birthday, i caved and decided to go earlier instead...

let me just tell you that no other creature has ever had such an effect on me as little baby panda tai shan. i almost jumped into the panda habitat in an effort to coo and cuddle and climb trees with the little bamboo-eating fluffball. i think that life would be perfect if i could just spend all my time with the panda family, rolling around in grass, living the moral vegetarian life that i've always aspired to lead. yes indeed - after seeing the pandas, i feel like i want to be one. yup. my obesession is that bad...

i already miss the panda...

i think i'll go back to see little baby panda again. he makes me... happy. =)