Dirrrty South

So it's been awhile. I've been back in Marietta with my family, just hanging out, reading, working out, and seeing a few old friends here and there.

LA recap:
Santa Monica with Charlie who eats heads of broccoli at a time.
Santa Monica/Venice with Kara
Beverly Hills with Gavin
Downtown with Jas. A HUGE CONGRATS to him-- starting at UCLA Geffen Med School tomorrow! Eek exciting!

Oh, and a job interview. We'll see how that one goes. Income would be nice this semester, as would 30 hours/day so I can do all the shit I'd like.

Didn't take any pictures. Fail. And only had 3 days so everything was pretty rushed. Excited to go back for the semester and spend plenty of time hanging out with everyone and exploring LA and having lots of fun since really, school is what it is and I'm not sure it can really be helped at this point. Might as well enjoy my last year as an undergrad at USC.

ATL:
Picking up with a summer league team (ultimate). Awesome. Also trying to get my ass back into shape since at this point it's kindof embarrassing how slow I am and how quickly I get tired. Also trying to learn to play tennis but that's not exactly something to master in a few weeks. Oh well, have to start somewhere!

Been mainly hanging out with family but next week will be more friend time since the week after I'll be in Birmingham at the amazing Andrews Orthopedic Center. Yes, the Dr. James Andrews that EVERY pro athlete goes to.

Dr. Andrews. Basically my idol.

 Saw Donny today, one of my favorite people ever, who is starting at Emory med tomorrow! Eek more excitement! After that I've decided that I'd really like to keep my blog going into the semester because it'll force me to be realistic about whether I'm having enough fun.

Adventures --> reflection --> things to write about --> NOT entierly lame blog --> happy, hopefully.

Found by Kara.

Might go up to Lake Arrowhead for a day or so this week, will definitely be back to play summer league at night, summer league end of season tourney in 2 weekends, then back to school!

Other fun things:
Sports news. Always great. NFL is back on. Trades EVERYWHERE I can barely keep up. Ochocinco and Haynesworth to the Pats. Weird. Reggie Bush taking his talents to South Beach. It seems sports powers are colliding. Love it.

Djokovic and Wozniacki. via Djoke's Twitter.

Ochocinco and Rajon Rondo. Boston will be ballin this year.

September 3-- USC home opener vs. Minnesota. So excited.
Per Arrogant Nation's Mission statement-- NCAA SUCKS.
http://lostangelesblog.wordpress.com/2011/07/28/3027/

Keeping Austin Weird

I've been in Austin, TX since Thursday night visiting Alex, my best friend from home. Since middle school. Yeah we've been through some shit. Austin's great, casually hipster and likely hotter than hell itself. Hanging out with Alex for an extended period for the first time... basically since I left for college= SO GREAT!

Friday-- waited in line for 2.5 hours for what's supposedly the best BBQ in Austin and arguably, Texas. It opens at 11 and closes when it sells out so people start lining up at around 9 am.

Line at Franklin's BBQ when we arrived at 10:30. Really.

Adorably simple menu which I value so much.

I may have gotten 2 full meals' worth. Brisket plate and Tipsy
Texan sandwich featuring chopped beef, sausage, and slaw.
I did not finish it.

Texas Capitol. It's brown.

Giant Lone Star in front of the State History Museum. They had a
perfectly Austin-esque free outdoor concert series going on. With
free tacos and Honest Tea.

Saturday-- went to the downtown Austin farmer's market. Ate a pork tomatillo tamale, migas taco, and some fresh peaches. Then headed to Barton Spring Pool. It was freezing. But the sun was burning outside, quite possibly the most intensely blazing sun I've ever encountered. Alex and I decided that at the process goes: Freeze, Thaw, Burn, Repeat.

Walked by Double Wide practice, Austin's elite club men's team.
Can't even imagine running in his heat. This is at Zilker Park,
where Austin City Limits and SXSW take place.

Barton Spring Pool. Wiki says, "The pool exists in the channel of
Barton Creek and is filled by water from Main Barton Spring,
the fourth largest spring in Texas."

Tree for Kara, though it may be too live.

Peaches from the farmer's mkt. They basically roasted in my
bag while at the pool so I cleaned and cut them up.

At night we went to see Ben Sollee who might win the award for being my favorite musician to see live. His music and his performance have both grown immensely from the first time I heard him open for Bela Fleck with the Sparrow Quartet 3 years ago. Basically fell in love with his music at that first song, "It's Not Impossible."

His voice is ENORMOUS-- where did it come from?? I can't ever do justice to the way it fills a room and absolutely captivates me. Then he starts playing his cello and I fall to pieces. The way his fingers flutter over the strings and his bow lures the cello's soul from its body, the richness and depth and life he so effortlessly brings from it melts my heart and questions my being and how I've strayed so far from music when it used to be such a significant part of my life. All the while he is clearly having the best time of his life, so happy to be on stage and sharing his music with everyone and anyone who will listen, making it seem totally silly to lead any other kind of life (more on this later).

Pre-concert Chipotle. Soso good after extensive sun time. I've also
decided that meat takes up too much space and a veg bowl, which
comes with guac, is the way to go.

Feeling like a social outcast at the concert venue--
and very upset about it-- for not being 21.

Ben on the left, and incredible new drummer/percussionist,
Jordan Ellis. He added so much to the live set and hearing him
and Ben faux-jam left me in awe.

Oh hey, I'm fangirl. AND he wore the
collaredshirt-jacket-jeans look that I love.

Solo album #2. CD signed by Ben #2. Best.

So yes. I've moved from international vagabonding to domestic. There's just as much to see and do and learn here in the states and even during normal life. I've made it a goal to spend more time enjoying life and exploring LA in this coming semester. That's one thing that's started to settle in from the overseas portion of this summer-- taking time to savor life and not be so stressed out and stupid-busy and trying to control everything all the time. Or at least not allowing excessive sources of stress especially regarding the things I know I have to do anyway. And maybe, possibly, even allowing myself to be happy with what I do instead of constantly looking forward and trying to achieve more which apparently will lead me toward a life of lots of accomplishment but little satisfaction I don't quite know how he already understands so much about the things that I struggle with at such a fundamental level. Obviously there are many more facets to this thought but that's the only bit I can currently verbalize.

Other domestic adventures in the plans:
Marietta, GA- new home of my immediate family.
Charlotte, NC- site of one of my brother's tennis tourneys.
Birmingham, AL- orthopedic capital of America.


I sprint towards freedom, how else would you move that way?
But I ain't as fast as I used to be and the dogs are catching up
But I'm gonna die either way so I might as well die trying.
--Captivity, Ben Sollee

**Just realized that I totally left out my few days in LA. That's completely unfair-- those people are important too-- even if I've only blogged from unfamiliar territory, so I will recap those days in the next post, likely when I'm back in the dirrrty south. Sentence construction=miserable. Bed time.

Dirty Little Piggy

The last few days in Taipei since getting back from Kaoshung have consisted of hanging out with my mom's siblings and their families here in Taipei.

I'm now sitting in Taipei airport for another hour (delayed flight) before sitting in the Seoul airport for 3 more hours (layover), followed 11.5 hours across the Pacific until I'm back in LA. I'm not really sure what to do now that a dream summer has been fulfilled and it actually happened and now it's over and in a few more domestic weeks I'll need to re-orient myself for another semester and the return to real life. There are so many thoughts and emotions right now that I can't begin to sort them out, not that I'm any good at that to begin with as anyone who reads this would know.Also working on the chances and means of importing some of these dream-life thoughts and feelings into real life. And learning to allow myself to be happy.

Meanwhile I have Gaga on repeat singing about how she can't deny Judas. Catchy. Then she gets stoned to death.

So, mini-recap:
Got back from Kaoshung Friday night. Chilled.

Went to visit my grandpa's grave with family on Saturday morning, had AYCE Thai lunch, got my nails prettied (dark red), and went to an LGBT help hotline fundraiser with Titan. My Chinese is decent for getting around and speaking/understanding in everyday life but I still can't entirely grasp slang or crude jokes. Too bad.

Sunday went to a dam area and ate a HUGE fish. As in, 15ish pounds, in 6 distinct preparations, shared between 8 people, went and ultimatted in the muddiness, went to Shida night market and ate stinky tofu and icy desserts with Titan and an aunt. Went home, cleaned/packed/whatever, and got onto Skype and had my entire being questioned. In the best way possible.

Kungpao fish. One of the 6 dishes made from the same fish.

Convenience in Taipei is unparalleled. Do you want Famiy Mart or
7-Eleven? Or the other Family Mart? Or the other 7-Eleven??

I love seeing the layered ridges in the distance.

I still miss Oreo.

White jersey, now brown. Good job, Licious.
At least I run straight..

LA in Taipei: 2 Trojans and 2 Bruins. Fight on!

Katherine (Nano) and I, slightly cleaner and repping our schools.

Stinky tofu and rice noodles at the night market. Crisped to
perfection hence doesn't need to be drenched in some crazy sauce.
Mmm fermentation!

Lastly, I love all of the new stamps and stickers in my passport :)
Can only hope I will be fortunate enough to acquire more!

Typhoon Season

Rains in Kaoshung have been crazy these past few days and when it comes to watery precipitation I'm basically the wicked witch of the west. Here's hoping Sunday in Taipei will be dry so I can play pickup one last time, especially since one of the supersweet Taiwanese girls was willing to lend me her cleats until Monday, after thoroughly beating my cleat-less ass on Tuesday. Also hoping for non-typhoon winds and rain on Monday so my flight can depart without troubles.

Musical Recap of Tuesday in Danshui and CKS Memorial:

The sun is up, the sky is blue
It's beautiful and so are you.

By the sea, Mr. Todd, that's the life I covet
By the sea, Mr. Todd, oh I know you'd love it.

Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.

A new day will down for those who stand long
And the forests will echo with laughter.

Doo do do do do do
Doo do do do do do
(Pirates theme song)

There's a hole in the world like a great black pit
And the vermin of the world inhabit it
And its morals aren't worth what a pig would spit
And it goes by the name of London.

Heart-carved treetrunk, Yankee bayonet
A sweetheart left behind.

Let it Bee, Let it Bee
Let it Bee, Let it Bee
Whisper words of wisdom
Let it Bee.

Happy times together we've been spending
I wish that every kiss was never ending.

There are giants in the sky
There are big tall terrible
Awesome scary wonderful
Giants in the sky!

Your arms are my castle
Your heart is my sky

 In Kaoshung all I've really done is eat. And sleep. And Skype. As Titan says, I'm a little piggy. Endearingly, of course.

Various preparations of mutton, which Kaoshung is known for.

Shaved ice: red bean, yi ren, boba, pineapple, almond jelly,
black sugar syrup.

Sortof ghetto but so delicious homemade pepper
sauce at a market in Gangshan. Noodles.

Midnight snack, courtesy of aunt/uncle. Fresh made green onion
pancakes and mung bean + fresh milk.

 Back to Taipei tomorrow night (aka right now). Then some fam time and more eating over the weekend, then back to the states on Monday!

Kara 'Rover' Kieffer

It is now July 13 in Taipei. This means it is someone's birthday. This someone only became known to me a short 6 months ago and since then we have gone through a lot of interesting things, the highlight of which is being commonly mistaken as a lesbian couple. Hilarity.

Happy Birthday Kara! You're now 2 number years older than me.

Today-- exploring Danshui along the river which seeps into the Northwestern corner of Taiwan, going back to CKS Memorial for sunlight, pickup. Water is awesome. Wandering is awesome. Ultimate sans cleats is so frustratingly un-awesome.

Pictures later. Lazy/sleepy/need to wake up to catch the high speed rail to Kaoshung (in South Taiwan) tomorrow to see my uncle/aunt (Titan and Alex's parents), and my mom's best friend who came up with my name!

Delicious Relaxation... Aka Lazy Fatty.

Ok... so I've been a bit lazy in updating and now I find myself with 4 days to summarize. Though I've officially been called out on this having become an actual blog which I write for an audience, and not just a photoblog as I originally claimed. True story.

Photos updated-- Beijing:
http://iamlicious.blogspot.com/2011/06/beijing-roots.html
I thought about just letting it be but then I realized this post includes the great wall and such so it's sortof really necessary.

Friday-- explored the center of the city including 2 massive malls and 1 massive bookstore, Eslite, which essentially functions as a mall before walking along a sky corridor to the Taipei 101. Stopped in the super ritzy Mitsukoshi mall and played with an ipad 2. I hate how useful and fun they seem to be. Then walked in the burning heat to city hall, then to Sun Yat-Sen's Memorial (a significant figure in the rise of the Republic of China... side note: I wiki'd to ensure historical accuracy and when I typed 'sun' the only thing in the dropdown menu was sun-dried tomatoes... sigh, I'm such a fatty.) Then hung around randomly and met Titan and Norman for dinner along the Huping River.

Sky corridor between mall buildings, eventually leading to the
Taipei 101.

Inspiring advertisement: Open mind, piggy can fly.

Sun Yat-Sen had such colonial handwriting!

Sun Yat-Sen plus armed guards resembling toy soldiers.

Best of the shitty night pictures that my camera sucks at.

 Saturday-- went to an exhibit featuring the ancient/traditional/famous art scroll, "Along the River during the QingMing Festival," painted in the Song Dynasty. The exhibit featured a digital, animated version of the scroll which was originally unveiled at the Shanghai World Expo in 2010. Really cool use of modern media technology, in my opinion. The original painting is incredible because of the intricate detail which displays the daily life of basically an entire town across this ridiculously long scroll. When they animated all of these actions it made it supercooler. It cycled between day/night and the progression of activities through each. But the styles of the animation were SO different and that inconsistency made the whole thing kindof strange. After Norman pointed it out (the people are 2D in daytime and puffier and 3D-esque at night) I couldn't stop thinking about it. Read up:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Along_the_River_During_the_Qingming_Festival#Digital_version

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2011/05/30/2003504536

I think these posters intended to show the graphic design behind
the animated people in the digital painting.

Length of the animated painting, resembling a scroll along the wall.

Afternoon snack-- Tiramisu!
From a French cafe. In Taipei.

 Then went to Longshan Temple, a Daoist one, then to yet another night market, this time at Huaxi Street. My cousin must love me-- taking me to a different night mkt almost every night because he knows I find them superfun :)

So many offerings.

With Titan in front of the temple.

Hwaxi Street Night market. This one seemed to specialize in
reptile consumption-- turtles, snakes, etc.

Lychee beer! Basically tastes like juice.

7-11's barley tea. I can't stop drinking it.

 Sunday-- Superlazy day. Woke up and went to play pickup ultimate. At 2:30. Oops. Threw a score, caught a score, had a few d's, but my ankles hate not having cleats/braces. At least when I'm back in the states I'll feel so fast. Then ate a HUGE bowl of beef noodles, then shared a HUGE mango dessert with Titan, then digested in a park. Then came back, internetted, and went to sleep. I was awake for just about 12 hours.

SO MUCH GRASS!

The juice lady. She's adorable and rides around selling homemade
juices. She makes bank off of the ultimate crowd. Sunday pickup at
3:30=heat stroke. I drank 2.

With Becky from high school!! I'm sweaty.

Taipei 101 along the horizon. Pickup=stack is a constant mess.

With large bowl of beef noodles. When we were ordering the lady was
like oh, a small is plenty for you right? And I had to be like ermm
actually I think I'll have a large thanks.

Titan with his small bowl, making me seem even fatter.

Accomplishment.

At the original Din Tai Fung.

Can someone please buy me a hat like this?
I'd love to be an ebi sushi.

Mango dessert-- shaved ice, black sugar syrup, 2 kinds of fresh
mango, house made mango sorbet, mango syrup. Not overly sweet,
surprisingly. Mango-licious.

 Today-- lunch with Norman at yet another mall, this one doubling as a sortof amusement park type thing. Then went over to the National Palace Museum. Today was also an epic win/fail public transport day. I took the subway a few stops south, a few east, and a few more north, only to realize that I could have just taken a bus for less than 10 minutes to get from my origin to my destination. Instead I spent about 40 minutes and more money on 3 different subway trains. Oops. Seeing the map made me feel extremely stupid, but I realize I enjoy subways a lot. They're so efficient and reliable, and the maps are always colorful and easy to imprint in my memory. It ended up being a win though since I got to the museum just in time to get the late-arrival half-price ticket. Plus student ID=another half off. Hung around there for a bit, then got on a bus and cruised around the city for an hour. Such a great feeling to wander and not know where the hell the bus was going to take me. Found my way to Chang-Kai Shek Memorial just after sunset so there was a nice glow in the sky, then dinnered with Titan. Beef noodles again. Same name, but oh-so-different because it was a different restaurant.

Lunch-- some sort of sizzly, delicious fajita-esque hot metal plate food.

View from the terrace area of the National Palace Museum.
Beautiful day.

El museo.

Supercute wine vessel from 3-4th century BC.
Inlaid with turquoise and malachite.

Rocking my new Renegade Province jersey.

View from the bus. Love being an occasional vagrant.

CKS Memorial arches, glowing.

Large beef noodles v2. Yes, I am wearing the same shirt.

Accomplishment x2. Though I look slightly
comatose already in this one.

This night market had the CUTEST fruit helmets. The strawberry
picture didn't turn out very well.

Post-dinner snack. Seriously. Plus another boba.
This is why I'm fat.

Also, CNN calls Taipei the Asian city representing Gluttony:
http://www.cnngo.com/explorations/life/asias-most-sinful-cities-174006?page=0,0

The fattiness is not my fault.

And my (lack of) sleep schedule-- I think I'm on Kazakstan Standard Time.