21

So, I turned 21 yesterday. I have been waiting for the day when I could legally purchase alcohol for approximately 7 years now. The celebrations began with visiting a few bars in downtown LA with Kara and Bryan, and tonight I went to the Grammy Nomination Concert at Nokia Theatre and treated myself to some deliciously overpriced sushi at Katsuya. And it's only Wednesday. More drinking and celebration to come this weekend, culminating in the beach league tourney and party in beautiful Santa Monica, before cracking down on finals time.

Sports updates since last post: USC romped UCLA 50-0 last weekend. Amazing, and one hell of a way to end my undergrad football-watching career.

We're #1. But we're not the champions. Oh, right.

Neuheisel got fired. Boo.
USC loves Rick!
0-4 vs. USC in his tenure.

Glory. Love the Knights.

 Homework update: look at this cool protein! Wooooo. Kindof a cool visualization of the secondary strucure.

Crystal Structure of Bovine Low Molecular Weight
Phosphotyrosyl Phosphatase complexed with a HEPES molecule.

And now, my Grammy update! It was really cool being at a live show of this caliber. No, it's not the actual Grammys, but this was still pretty badass, and seeing the whole operation and sharing oxygen with famous people who shit like the rest of us.
Live performers: Gaga, Band Perry, Jason Aldean+Ludacris, Common+Lupe Fiasco+...Uh-I-really-don't-know-who-the-other-2-were, Gaga+Sugarland
Present to present nominees: Nicki Minaj, Bruno Mars, Katy Perry
Hosted by: LL Cool J

The setup.

Opening act: Gaga, Marry the Night. 

Nicki Minaj presenting the Song of the Year nominees
+ the view from my seat!

The Band Perry. A brother and sister band, been touring
for 13 years, had a radio hit this year (If I Die Young),
and nominated for Best New Artist. Thanks, music industry lag.

The cascading, illuminated wings framed the stage
that set the stage for the Grammy's.

Usher, Valerie Simpson, Mike Stoller in a tribute to recently
deceased, legendary songwriters Nick Ashford and Jerry Leiber.
Usher's voice is like buttah. Mmm.

Really creepster photo but Bruno Mars is directly to the left
of the red hat, and Nicki Minaj was directly on the right.

This was one of my favorite moments of the night.
Gaga and Sugarland were prepping to perform the set closer
while Katy Perry was (poorly) announcing nominees for
Album of the Year. Born This Way was announced
and Gaga jumped up and hugged Jennifer and was so excited.
Amazing for someone who's already won five.

Gaga+Sugarland in Without You was incredible.
Also, if you haven't seen Gaga+Elton John in the Grammy
opener a few years back, look it up. Mindblowing performance.

Lights!

My salmon sashimi. Nom. 

Some form of flash tempura fried soft-shelled crab.

Now for the critical, opinionated part-- who you should vote for (Sparknotes version)!
Record of the Year
-Rolling in the Deep, Adele
Her voice is absolutely incredible and to me, she is the image of beauty in real people who eat things. There is so much soul in her music.
-The Cave, Mumford & Sons
I LOVE THEM. I'm secretly sad that they got multiple nominations because that means then they'll be well known. I just hope they'll make a few more incredible albums before selling their souls into a less-musically-intriguing-but-more-likely-to-make-money album like The Decemberists and Death Cab.

Album of the Year
-21, Adele
-Born this Way, Gaga

Song of the Year
-Rolling in the Deep, Adele
-The Cave, Mumford & Sons
-Sorry, but Kanye and Bruno can suck it.

Best New Artist
Nicki Minaj is going to run away with this one. And Bon Iver is not new. Neither is the Band Perry. C'mon guys.

On the docket for this weekend:
-Oregon beating UCLA in the 'Pac-12 Championship'-- (Neither contending team held a lead against us this season. Lol.)
-USC women's volleyball hosting the first 2 rounds of the tournament at Galen, starting vs. Yale on Friday night. (NCAA hates us here too, we finished the season ranked #1, yet we got seeded 7th in the tourney... oh well, here's hoping for an easier road to the championship!)
-Beach tourney+party at Santa Monica!
-Then to the study cave. RAH FINALS. Then only one more semester. What.

Being Thankful

So, I failed at posting more often and it's now been what, 5 weeks, since my last post? I'm finding myself back in the bay area, in Oakland with my grandma for Thanksgiving. She's awesome. Here's just a taster of why:

Homemade wontons with baby bok choy and poached egg.
Customary first-night dinner.

Homemade chive dumplings. Like, from dough. and chives. amazing.

Homemade oxtail soup. Likely my favorite soup of all time.

Before this the last 2 weeks were consumed by ultimate. Sean Ryan in beautiful Santa Cruz and Socal warmup in San Diego. So excited for spring season!

Gorgeous Santa Cruz.

Less gorgeous me backhand. (Photo cred to the
adorable Sparrow, who will likely never read this.)

We also went on a badass ropes course as a
team bonding event. Shit was 3 stories tall
and ended in a zipline.

And as always, a football update:

1. We beat Oregon. (Stolen from Arrogant Nation)

2. Kiff's face. He doesn't take shit. That means you, NCAA.

3. We 'play' fUCLA tomorrow.

They've already clinched the Pac-12 South (in pathetic fashion) and will most likely play Oregon for the Pac-11 championship (not a bowl game). bRuin murder 2 weeks in a row. Furthermore, these next 2 weeks will push fUCLA into losing record territory, requiring the Pac-11 to apply for a waiver for them to be allowed to play in a bowl game. Way to represent the Pac-11 as a respectable football conference, Larry Scott. Shafting the one good thing about the Pac-11. Except for legalized physician-assisted suicide in the state of Oregon. That's good too.

By the way, USC will have beaten both of the teams playing in the Pac-11 champ game next week. Nothing like knowing you deserve to be below us. Right, Neuheisel? Enjoy the closing gap... of your job security.

The Arrogant Nation game recap from last week's duck feast and 'game' preview for the coming bRuin-assault tomorrow are both gems:
http://lostangelesblog.wordpress.com/

What am I going to do when college football season ends?


Meanwhile I've also been job searching. No fun pictures there. Or promises of success and prosperity.

The coming weeks entail 1 last week of school, 1 week of study days, and 2 days of 3 finals. Then I'm home for 2.5 weeks, then SNOWBOARDING IN COLORADO WITH KARA OMG.

Also, I will legally be able to buy alcohol soon. Awesome.

Back to LA in the morning for the 'rivalry game.' The last home game of my undergraduate career. Welp.

Fuzzy picture to make me feel better
about bittersweet tomorrow.