Barley Tea Me

So it's been quite awhile since I posted. More than a month. This means I fail and I need to spend more time doing amazing things so I can write about them and make me feel better about my current lack of post-grad career prospects while making you all* feel jealous of my second-semester senior status.

Happens.

 Since my last post:
-SB Invite. Easily the worst weekend of ultimate I've ever played.
-Being sick for the last 2 weeks. Seriously, immune system? I don't have time for that shit. No secondary?
-Pres Day Invite at UCSD. Pretty awesome but really we should have and could have been even more awesome. Upsetting SDSU bitchy gnomes was definitely a highlight.

My jerseys! Plus white shorts=
We look so fly.

 And this week I've skipped class 3 times. Once to see the Lorax (super cute, by the way. I especially loved the amphibious singing fish trio), once because I was sleepy, and once to nap. Don't be deceived by the seeming similarity of the last 2 :)

What I did today:
9:30 go to class
11:00 go to lunch-- crappy chicken tikka masala from the uv foodcourt plus a million divinely fried plantains from the brazilian grill
12:00 nap
2:00 go to work
3:00 go to women's tennis match + free in-n-out. double double and chips and lemonade
4:15 back to work
5:30 boba truck run
5:45 back to work
7:30 practice. baller handler weave. look out for it.
and the rest of the night is fine to remain untold
but I will say Christa is one of the best people I've ever met
and I ate all the carbs in Ali's fridge.

Christa and pitbull cutie.

 On the docket for the near future:
-Interviewing ExploreUSC kids in 4 hours. Oh, and my nap earlier today resulted in me not only skipping class but also failing to pre-read the interviewee apps.
-TROUBLE IN VEGAS this weekend! USC ultimate will take over the entire tournament. City. I think this is literally the first time Hellions, Ghettobirds, and Kleos will all be at the same tournament. Epic.
-Rides and hanging with Kara in Vegas- also awesome, naturally.
-Spring break. Obviously will be amazing because of the whole senior year thing. But even MORE special because I'll be with Charlie at the Grand Canyon and Joshua Tree. After a weekend quidditch tourney first, of course. Super excited!
-Obviously these festivities will merit a whole new post in 2 weeks.

One of my recent favorite pictures of us.

 Lastly but arguably most important: SUPER THANK YOU TO MINDY, Megan's roommate, for supplying me with amazing barley tea that I'm currently sipping on and that I've missed since my fat days in Taiwan this summer. No but really, I got so fat. And barley tea is so tasty.

Pho and Half & Half run with Mindy&Co.
Cue gbaby jealously if she ever sees this.

*you all= Charlie and Kara are the only two who I'm confident will actually read the shit I write and post here :) Chris might too. Mainly, expressive writing is therapeutic-- My happiness class says so.
**Amendment (10 minutes later)... Charlie and Kara are both second-semester seniors too... Oh.
***SUPER SHOUTOUT TO ALEXANDRA KATHRYN GAIGELAS WHO I ACTUALLY KNOW DOES ALWAYS READS MY POSTS, IT WAS JUST TOO DIFFICULT TO REMEMBER BY THE TIME I GOT TO WRITING THE INITIAL FOOTNOTE. Best friend since I started hating my 2 other friends in 6th grade! Love you!

Aaaaaaaaand it's now been 20 minutes since I started this post and an entire Adele album since I opened my computer. Peace.

Small Pleasures

As I sit here eating my wonderful homecooked meal and watching Sharapova/Kvitova in the Aussie Open semis, waiting for Fed/Nadal to start in just less than 2 hours, I realize I have it pretty good so I should write about it and advertise it and try to perpetuate it. There's plenty of reading I could be doing (mostly for classes, but all entirely optional but potentially interesting, seeing as I'm taking a majority of them pass/fail), but I'm more than content with doing exactly what feels satisfying at this moment.

My (2nd) dinner! Tarragon chicken and red mashed potatoes.

Compliments of my lovely
new potato masher!!
Eek foodie tools!

So, a recap from the beginning of the semester. I'm now near the end of week 3. My only real class is advanced biochem, no classes Fridays, still working and doing research, but more importantly, the stuff that doesn't go on a resume.

Weekend 1, MLK weekend: LEI-OUT!
One of the biggest, best beach tournaments in the world. It was amazing, with 66 fields set up just north of the Santa Monica pier during day 1, and over 80 on day 2. Playing awesome beach ultimate and hanging out with the awesome GhettoHot ballers who were there.

Story of the tourney: I got confused and assumed that Lei-Out would be held relatively close to where beach league is held, about half a mile south of the pier so that's where I had Charlie so kindly drop me off. That was wrong. While on the phone sporadically with Sixxi for about half an hour before we were to start playing, I was walking up and down the beach carrying a 30-pack in my hands and a handle in my backpack. She obviously couldn't find me because I was wandering around on the wrong side of the pier. Eventually I went back to the road where sixxi was going to come find me when a really nice SM maintenance guy drove up and asked if I was looking for the ultimate tournament. He informed me how far astray I was and I told him a friend was coming to get me. He circled around and I was still looking lost so he offered me a ride and I took it. I figured he was in an official city truck, it couldn't be THAT bad. So we got to the right location, he put his truck in 4WD and drove onto the sand, along the entire length of fields until we reached the one where GhettoHot was. As he stopped deep into our endzone, it was clear. Licious had arrived.

Also, he joked that had I not been wearing my USC sweatshirt, he wouldn't have picked me up. And we talked about the Trojan football team on the drive over. Fight on, bitches!

It was an operation.

AND we're acrobatic!

Our team jerseys :)

As a bonus on the weekend, I got to meet Chris, Charlie's supersweet little brother.

He brought me a disc from Swarthmore! Bad ass!

During the second week my mommy came to visit! She had a layover between Atlanta and Taipei where all of her siblings and their respective families who were available went back for a reunion for my amazing and cute grandmother's 80th birthday + Chinese new year celebration. Knowing that side of my family, there is epic food happening.

She loved Lemonade, esp the ahi tuna
and watermelon radish dish.

We also went and stalked men's tennis practice. They're incredible
and going for a 4th consecutive national title. Recruit my brother!

To look forward this coming weekend-- first tournament of the season with the Hellions in Santa Barbara! So exciting! Eeeeeeeeee!

As always, Sharapova looks awesome in her cute little tennis dress, and Clijsters lost to Azarenka, who played a really solid, aggressive match, earlier this evening. It'll be her first major final, which she absolutely deserves, and I hope to see a good match from her this weekend. The top 4 men in tennis just seem to be impenetrable. As with in Roland Garros last summer the top 4 seeded players are in the semis: Djokovic, Nadal, Federer, and Murray.

Sharapova's outfit. Oh, also, she just won her semis match
and will face Azarenka in the finals.

Yes. Ok. This is shaping up to be one of the best semesters/years yet :)

Winter

Winter break is a day from over. I spent the first 2.5 weeks at home in Atlanta, and this past week in Colorado with Kara.

Atlanta recap: lots of sleep, food, family, and exercise. Some time with Alex and other old friends, but mainly lazy time at home. Also, attempts to learn to play tennis.

Oreo, my puppy, on one of
our walks in the woods!

My fam!

My little brother.

Asian green onion, sesame oil, and meat pie!

 Colorado recap: learning to snowboard at Breckenridge, exploring Boulder, Golden and Denver. According to Kara, "We are a state of stoned hippies and their over-educated parents." Everything I saw this week fully reinforces her statement.

On the lift at Breck.

So much snow!

Delicious Illegal Pete's burrito!

Cute little creek through
downtown Boulder.

The stadium at UC Boulder where Ralphie got loose and
provided a moment of hilarity before USC crushed the Buffs :)

Millenium Bridge in downtown Denver.

Denver also has a temporary ice skating rink in between
downtown high-rises. Is this place real?

I love this blue bear! He stares into the
Denver Convention Center.

 Tomorrow: start the 16 hour drive back to LA with Kara.

The drive.

 Monday: Last semester of college starts. Wtf.

How I feel about going back to school/work/obligations.

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.