the legendary totoro at nikkei matsuri

after the 415k in san francisco, i made it to see kelly's girls dance at the nikkei matsuri festival in japantown. and as we were walking along the street, what do i see? totoro, the mythical creature from my neighbor totoro. after seeing the movie ages ago, i've been collecting totoro stuffed animals and in whatever else forms i can find him in. there is something so special about this gentle spirit that draws people to him and adores him. you could see the excitement in my face next to him. this, after running a 5k with the best time yet.

finally... my dream closet

* back-dating *

clockwise from top left: before, elfa components, empty closet, and finally, full dream closet. these were taken about a week apart. it took some time before i got all the shoe drawers i needed to complete the closet. of course not all the shoes fit in the closet but it was fine for me. after this was finished, i just left the doors open so i could enjoy my new closet that i don't have to share with anyone else. ♥

this feeling's called glorious

and i don't need you or anyone
oh this feeling is glorious

i've got hope and hate
and i'm feeling kind of great
kind of great

lyrics from glorious by adorable.

love

look what i got in the mail the other day! for those who don't know, broken heart surgery is a new album in collaboration with adorable's pete fij and house of love's terry bickers. it is not released until july 7th but i have connections. :)

if you look closely at the image, my name is listed on the booklet 7 lines down. and one more thing, i am in love with this album. and you will be too because it's brilliant.

found it! me with the pet shop boys in 1999

i didn't think i would find it so quickly but here it is... this was taken on october 29, 1999 in san diego at a radio station. i cropped out the others but obviously couldn't crop out the woman in the middle.
from left: chris lowe, my coworker jerry, neil tennant, and me.

20 years ago...

in celebration of my 20-year high school reunion, i decided to post age 16 ½ y/o pictures of myself. enjoy!

rip: dory previn

how i adore you, dory previn
turned you up to eleven for the band's ears to bleed...

black swan

for halloween this year, my good friend invited me to a party in the city. i haven't dressed up in years.

in early october, as i looked around my apartment for costume ideas, i found an old dress i bought in high school. for my senior prom, i made my dress but i bought a back up dress at guinne sax. see the top image of the dresses below. when i put it on, i thought... dark ballerina! which then lead to black swan. this was actually an idea my cousin gave me this summer while traveling together in new york. she had planned on being black swan. thanks debbie!

this dress is almost 20 years old and finally worn! it was very exciting.

as you can see, i first removed the horrendous long sleeves. then i moved the petticoat up and cut the dress in half. i added feathers and gems to the bust of the dress. i bought a tiara and basically colored it black with sharpies. now, i had to figure out the make up. and thanks to a youtube tutorial, i was able to get the make up done myself. i walked in 6-inch heels for over 3 hours and the make up lasted about 8 hours. i was pretty impressed with myself.

my shoe corner...

because everyone should have one. :)at the end of september, my sister moved out. with her, so did a large piece of furniture that previously occupied a corner of my room. since it was now empty, i thought i'd make good use of the space. i've always wanted a wall of shoes, however, i have so much crap that it was pretty impossible. so, rather than have a wall 'o shoes, i have a shoe corner. and this does not hold all of my shoes, mind you. it does conveniently remind me of the shoes i used to forget about that were formerly stored under my bed.

chopped

i cut my hair and this is the first picture of me from the smashbox photoshoot. see how excited i am?

my heart aches for you, pete fijalkowski

i'm not sure why i decided to look him up today but i randomly google him every so often. pete fijalkowski, formerly of the britpop bands adorable and polak, who is the most underrated and under appreciated singer and lyricist. i suppose i've been in search for new music that makes me feel nostalgic. i re-discovered them in 2006. listening to both albums of each of his former bands brings me back to the days where i'd lock myself in my room just listening to music. hours and hours would roll by unnoticed. remember those days? i miss those days. those were days of youth and long gone. i am so busy these days, i barely have enough time to sleep.

pete has a myspace page offering 4 songs off of his secret acoustic solo album, unfortunately unreleased. one of which is a cover of new order's love vigilantes. one of my most favorite new order songs of all time. pete's version is alive yet slow and sexy. really sexy. while i love love bernard sumner's vocals, i am falling more and more in love with pete's. he also does an acoustic version of adorable's big hit, homeboy. it is quite dreamy. i am loving it just as much.

in the early 90's (after high school), i had an opportunity to see adorable play free at golden gate park in san francisco. however, i opted to spending the day with my boyfriend (at the time) which i've regretted for many, many years. fortunately, my brother went and brought back a recording of the show. i still have that cassette tape, somewhere. in the late 90's during the time i was living in san diego, pete's other band polak was scheduled to play in los angeles. so, i planned on going. much to my dismay, the show was canceled.

listening to both fake (despite having bombed when it was released in the mid-90's, is one of my fav albums of all time) and rubbernecking (according to pete, was never even reviewed or acknowledged) makes my heart ache for more. more music please, pete. pretty please. ♥

vinci park

earlier this summer, my friend jolene was in town from alabama where she is an assistant professor. i met her last year when she was still a student. all summer, we talked about going to happy hour at xanh restaurant in mt. view. she would tell me how her boyfriend, han, was always going there. but he would never take her because he told her they didn't serve any vegetarian items there (she's a vegetarian).

well, jolene and i finally made a date to go. and while we were catching up and enjoying the various types of vegetarian food we ordered, she was texting her boyfriend about it. he was going to come and pick her up as she was staying with him during the summer. when he showed up, she introduced us. as he offered his hand to me, he says, we've met before... i know you. he didn't look familiar to me, at all. and when he knew what my last name was, i got a little scared. i told him i was really sorry but i didn't remember him. i asked him where/when we knew each other. was it high school? he said, no, before that. we know each other from vinci.

i went to 4 different elementary schools (meadow homes, burnett, northwood and vinci) and i was at vinci park elementary from part of the 4th grade through the end of 5th grade. so i asked han, was it in mr. snydal's class? was it 4th or 5th? he didn't remember. he only remembered that it was a combo class (which meant it was 5th grade) and that he hung out with two kids in that class. one was me and the other kid was a boy named brian. han moved to cupertino after vinci so we went to different schools after that.

i knew i had that class picture so i told jolene that i would go home and find the picture, scan it, and send it to her. upon returning home, i directly went to my room in search for that class picture. after 15 minutes of looking, i found it! there is only one asian boy in the class and i remember him. coincidentally, i remember his name was han. i also recognized the brian kid as well.
after showing the picture to several colleagues and friends, it turns out that i have not changed at all. well, maybe the hair is different. what do you think? can you find me?

hit and run

last month, the morning after i got back from my LA mini break, i got into a car accident. it was during the morning commute and it was a hit and run. the chick behind me was putting on make up and rammed into my rear bumper. as i was about to pull over, she took off. in a panic, i tried to chase her and get her license plate but she got away too quickly. luckily, i was told someone called in the plates for a car matching the description of the car that hit me.

this past week, the day my car was ready at the body shop, i finally made it over to pick up the police report. and they caught the chick that hit me! in fact, they tried to catch her the day of the accident. turns out, she was hiding the car and herself at her friend's house but her mom/parent gave her up. and now, she's getting charged with a misdemeanor. and i will get my deductible back for my car!

but none of this would have been possible if not for the good samaritan driving next to me who not only witnessed the accident but also called in the plates. i am extremely grateful to her and plan on letting her know. so, if ever i witness such an accident, i will do the same... you just never know.

ps, i got a bit of whiplash but am fine otherwise... in case anyone was worried.

my new do

after over a year of growing my hair out, i finally got a much needed cut & style. i am fabulous again thanks to gina, at faux salon (in dt campbell). she is the best!

my collection of pendant watches

from left to right: an orange (w/ leaves), a daisy flower and a zipper.

bling! ...because i ain't waiting for any man to buy me some...

i got my first one in the summer of 2007. it's nearly 2 years later, and due time for the second one. this is the bony levy swirl ring by carriére from nordstrom in 18k white gold, diamond weight per ring is 0.51ct (totaling 1.02ct), g color and vs clarity.

i'm debating a third one...

linda linda linda

i watch a lot of anime so this very cute japanese film affectionately entitled linda linda linda came up on my netflix. named after the song (only 2 lindas) by the blue hearts, a japanese punk band influenced by the ramones (who make a fictional guest appearance). see/hear the song here. it's the version from the movie. very catchy, if you ask me.

the movie is about girls. teenage girls who come together randomly to form a band just to participate in a rock festival. well, the singer is the random component. she replaces the vocalist who had to leave the former band as a result of some cat fight with another former band member. the story includes a myriad of female social issues. the different lives each member of the band leads. there's a leader and followers. awkwardness between strangers and new friendships (kindred spirits are realized) and most entertaining, awkward relations with their male counterparts. the ending is not so surprising as it ends happily and makes you feel good, in general. it's about friendship and music, which i really enjoyed.

and most important, i now know how to write my name in japanese. hahaha.

me kissing my lollipophead

i made this animated gif file on gickr from the webcam pictures below.
fun fun fun.

the wonders of coincidence

i recently saw this movie, lovers of the arctic circle, as recommended to me in my netflix. it's a spanish film made back in 1998. there are no known actors (that i know of). but it's a romantic drama. i find that i really enjoy romantic films. dramas or comedies, as long as it is romantic, i kinda dig it. chick flicks, i guess. they are temporary moments of romance, almost like real life. in the case of movies, it is an hour and a half of romantic moments.back to the film, the story is about two kids named ana & otto. they meet in elementary school and instantly fall in love. it's the cutest thing. the movie is all about coincidences. and you see each of their perspectives of the same situation. one after the other. this is one of the components of the movie that seems really unique and cool. sort of along the lines of amelie and run, lola run. not only do the two have palindrome names but they also love the arctic circle. they talk about the "midnight sun" in finland. just so i don't ruin it, i will summarize the major coincidences. otto's father ends up marrying ana's mother and the two are step siblings but are secretly in love with each other. otto was named after a german pilot his grandfather smoked a cigarette with during the war. and the coincidence is that ana eventually meets this german pilot, who ends up being her step grandfather. craziness. the ending is a little tragic, which makes it even more romantic.

i had an interesting chat with a good friend on the train about coincidences. he says, they are more common than we know. and that if we open our eyes to them, we would discover them more often. certain coincidences are obviously not welcomed but random coincidences are kinda cool. for instance, i went dancing last night at leisure and i met this guy. i was dancing next to his british friends and could kinda feel him watching me. his friend bumped into me and that's how he started talking to me. i forget how we got on the topic of san diego, but turns out, he went to uc san diego too. and graduated in the same year as me. and lastly, we're the same age! he's a month and a half older than me. what a coincidence, right?

election day

as i was coming home tonight, my niece & nephew stopped me on the way up to my apartment. this was the conversation i had with them:

kids: who are you going to vote for??
me: i already voted. who are you going to vote for?
kids: obama! obama!
me: good kids.

there's much to look forward to for our kids.