$40 a Day

I've had an inordinate amount of free time this week and frankly, I've gotten sortof sick of the USC bubble. After catching up on sleep, deciding that none of my remaining schoolwork actually matters, getting re-excited for football season, more napping, and attending Relay (which I could do an entire post about but I'll refrain for your sake and mine), it was time to get away.

So I got up today and got on a bus (after getting a ride to SM from Charlie's awesome mom) to Malibu.

The initial leg only took about 30 minutes up the PCH, and I got off at this little plaza area called Malibu Country Mart. This 'country mart' contained the likes of True Religion, Juicy Couture, Lanvin, and a million other really ritzy food and shopping places, mostly bearing the names of exquisitely pretentious celebrity designers and chefs, none of whom I give a shit about. Everyone rolled up in a shiny, excessive Range Rover with their dogs who have been to classier, more expensive hairdressers than I will ever encounter in my life. This strange little world made me feel like the majority of Malibu residents were pulling a Marie Antoinette and playing poor in their 'country mart'.

I can only assume the superlow fountain
is for puppies. Cool since I love puppies,
but REALLY, MALIBU?!

Google maps told me that the country mart was about 1.8 miles from Pepperdine so I figured that since I got there with plenty of time to explore, I'd just walk. Turns out Pepperdine is on the top of a hill. Good thing I happened upon the Malibu Farmer's Market!! Eek, and I picked up a foodie magazine with a listing of all the other farmer's markets in the area so now I have a new adventure hit-list.

I love farmer's markets.

And of course, gluten-free, vegan, buckwheat waffles.
What the hell is in this shit?? WILL NOT PUT THIS IN
MY MOUTH. Could possibly build a hut with them though..

 Short food break, lots of tasty samples, and back on the road.
Apparently they didn't intend for pedestrians to make this trek.

One of today's many questionable walking path choices.

At last, Pepperdine! Remind me why I didn't apply here? :(
On the other hand, the phallic cross might repulse me after awhile.

The gorgeous view from beside the phallic cross.
Yesterday's rain made today a perfect day to be in Malibu.

The reason why I initially thought of visiting Malibu was because Pepperdine's arts initiative was hosting the Carducci String Quartet and I've really been missing music recently. They did not disappoint and in fact, were really refreshing to see/hear.

The quartet is comprised of 2 married couples. Kindof cool but
mainly awkward since they're basically on an eternal double date.

So, a quick review of the concert repertoire:
Haydn String Quartet in G minor, Opus 74, No.3
A beautiful piece, and in my opinion the ensemble's best performance. Each part was so well balanced and the timbre was ever-vibrant and energetic and playful, demonstrating the quartet's level of familiarity and comfort with each other. The layering and passing of the melodic phrases was seamless and seemingly effortless. Silky smooth. Like buttah. Mmm.

Moeran String Quartet in E-flat Major
I was not a fan of this piece. The composer is Irish and decently contemporary. He apparently really liked traditional folk themes but it just sounded kindof schizophrenic. For example, movement 2 is labeled, "Lento; Vivace; Allegretto; Andante; Allegro vivace." To me a more appropriate descriptor would have been, "Drunken Irish river song; Potato jig; Lassie comes home; Sleepy toasted; Oh look more whisky." Haha. The viola did sound great though.

Brahms String Quartet in A minor, Opus 51, No.2
More virtuosic than the Haydn piece but a little more fragmented and with less coherent themes and focus. Not sure if that was a compositional thing or an interpretation thing. The first violinist kindof annoyed me in this one because while he sounded majestic and operatic, the slightly seizing motion that some musicians think make them look more intense and involved is just irritating. Hey buddy-- convey those emotions through your violin, not by flexing your legs so much that your ass levitates out of your seat. It's distracting and unnecessary if you're a decent enough musician.

Music nerd done.

Pretty wildflowers on a big hill in front of campus. Poppies?

Then I wandered around, waited 30 minutes for a bus, got onto another bus, then another, and after 2 hours of LA Metro-ing, was seated with a bowl of steamy hot pho in front of me. That may be enough public transportation experience for awhile.

Simply Pho Me!

So for a day of nomadic fun including all transportation, a concert ticket, 2 meals, and 2 bobas (don't judge), and infitite intangible value in tricking myself into thinking it was last summer again, my total came out to just under $40. Suck it, Rachael Ray!

Puppies love fun!

What a surprise-- I'm late on updating.
Here's what's happened in the last 3 weeks:

Trouble in Vegas- Hellions won the whole tournament, beating UCSD Psychos in an epic finals match, especially considering we lost to them the last 2 times we played. It was a really really great weekend for us and a tournament we really needed to boost our confidence and to work out our offensive flow.

Yeah, we did well.

I throw discs.

Ghettohot love!

Extracurricular activities at Chateau Ghetto.
Each room was themed like a different animal. Ridic.

Also had some exams and some job interviews, none of which I choose to remember, mainly because apparently no employers love me and I'm over school anyway. Took my last exam before finals today. Advanced Biochem. Ugh.

The Friday before Spring Break was Ghetto Croquet day, a classy event for all involved.

Senior pic! So classy, my fav.

Action shot featuring Baby Luke.

Following that was the Quidditch Western Cup. Yes, my boyfriend plays quidditch. He's pretty baller. They pulled a huge upset against UCLA to win the tournament. Really though, as strange as some of the people are, quidditch can be pretty entertaining to watch.

He'll fuck you up.

Tiptoes.

Then, SPRING BREAK!!
Charlie and I drove out to the Grand Canyon, then came back to camp and frolick in Joshua Tree for a bit before sleeping the entire 2nd weekend of break. The canyon was stunning and incredible and enormous. Words nor pictures can do justice to that massive hole in the ground.

It's huge.

Squirrel!

Halfway down the South Kaibab trail, 6 miles round trip.

Burros!

The canyon averages 10 miles
from one rim to the other.

We tried the Bright Angel trail but it was frozen solid,
barely melted, and refrozen to ensure a superslick slip
toward an icy canyon burial.

The Colorado river carves through the canyon.

obligatory couple picture, somewhere along the rim trail.

Rock layers so pretty!

Mmm rock colors, sky colors.

Sunrise at the canyon.

Joshua Tree: a national park full of rocks to climb on :)

At the top of Ryan Mountain trail.

Charles is a Joshua tree.

I'm a baby Joshua tree. Note spiky hairs.

I love this picture.

This place is so cool.

Rocks to climb.

And then we saw these people tightrope walking across the tips
of this giant rock formation. They made us feel really lame.

And an amazing sunset.

...Then spring break was over and I wanted to die, and I felt like work and obligations were flung on my face like this:

And last weekend was Centex, an ultimate tournament in Austin, TX. 86 degrees was great compared to when I was there to visit Alex last summer, but then again I wasn't running around chasing plastic that time. We went into the tourney seeded 11th and came out tied for 3rd after playing pretty crappily and going 1-2 on Saturday, but getting our shit together and beating James Madison, beating UCSD Psychos in quarters, and losing to WashU in semis. So much Hellions love :)

So yes, I've been busy, and no, I still have no idea what I'm doing after I graduate in 1.5 months. Ideally getting a job around the LA area and sticking around for summer league and football season!

But first... the next few weeks:
-My brother coming to play a national-level, invite-only tennis tourney in Rancho Mirage.
-Ultimate prom.
-Sectionals in SB.
-My cousin getting married and me going to hang out with them in SF.
-Regionals in Scottsdale.
-Commencement wtf.

I want a puppy.

I miss my Oreo.

More happy hour, please!

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 :)