THE RETURN OF THE BIG 3??



watch out, dc.

great news: i've been accepted to columbia's journalism school for the fall. i don't think it's fully hit me yet that i'm going back to nyc.
ahhhhh!!! wtf?

PDA!!



who's on thefacebook? i know it's elitist, but great for stalking.

from jai's blog:

Post a memory of me in my comments...
It can be anything you want.
Then post this to your journal and see what people remember of you.

i can still smell barbeque in my hair after showering, which of course means it was a good weekend.

steveo unleashed the koreanness on our friends before the rice show with a bbq and hella good spam-kimchee-fried rice. so. fucking. good! (all my spam fans out there MUST try this)

freesia came up with a good theory: all asian am. guys who are from anywhere besides the bay area dance like white guys. the only exception to this are pilipino guys and gays. so true. smiley much?

oh, and re: the "are you down?" quiz below: please do not post on your blog/send to your friends/etc. without putting our names on there. we don't want it to get around the internet and have it be all anonymous. we're fame whores, we know.

i can't believe it's may already. has it really been one year since graduation? good luck to everyone finishing up their last days of college. it's a jungle out there.

Dine for a Change -- Together we can end sexual assault

 Dine at participating restaurants for breakfast, lunch, or dinner (or all three!) on Thursday, May 20th and support San Francisco Women Against Rape, the city’s 30-year-old rape crisis center. Each restaurant will donate a portion of their proceeds to support critical services for survivors of rape and sexual assault. Let’s work together to promote healing and get these restaurants full of conscious people on May 20! Be sure to mention to the restaurant that you’re there to support SFWAR. (All restaurant addresses below).

Aperto Restaurant
1434 18th St@Connecticut
252-1625          

Atlas Café
3049 20th St@Alabama
648-1047          

Aux Delices
2327 Polk St@ Green
928-4977

Bissap Baobab
2323 Mission St@19th
826-9287          

Boogaloos
3296 22nd St@Valencia
824-4088

Charanga        
2351 Mission St@ 20th
282-1813                      

Dolores Park Café
501 Dolores St@ 18th  
621-2936          

Dottie's True Blue Café
522 Jones St@ O'Farrell
885-2767          

Estela's Fresh Sandwiches
250 Fillmore @ Haight
864-1850

Habana Bar y Restaurante
2080 VanNess@ Pacific
441-CUBA

Jakarta           
615 Balboa St@ 7th
387-5225          

Jays Cheese Steak    
3285 21st St@Valencia
285-5200                      

Little Baobab 
3388 19th St@Mission
643-3558          

Magnolia Pub Brewery
1398 Haight St @ Masonic
864-7468          

Mariachi's Taqueria  
508 Valencia St@ 16th
621-4358          

Metro Caffe
247 Fillmore St@ Haight
621-9536

Notes from the Underground Café   
2399 VanNess @ Green
775-7638                      

Papalote         
3409 24th St@Valencia
970-8815          

Pho Phu Quoc
1816 Irving St@19th Ave
661-8869          

Rosamunde's
545 Haight St@ Steiner
437-6851

Tallula
4230 18th St@ Collingwood
437-6722

Tita's Hale 'Aina        
3870 17th St@ Noe
626-2477

At SFWAR, we believe that no single individual, organization, foundation, or business alone can stop the epidemic of sexual assault, but by responding as a whole community, we each bring our piece of the solution. Please join us on Thursday, May 20th and Dine for a Change.

Need a Recommendation?
Having a meeting? Do it at a café(Metro Caffe, Dolores Park Cafe, Notes from the Underground, Atlas Cafe). 

Going on a date? Go to a nice restaurant (Tallula, Habana, Charanga, Aperto). 

Need a little fun? Eat at one of these places (Little Baobab, Bissap Baobab, Magnolia Pub and Brewery). 

In a rush? Try some fast food (Jay’s Cheesesteak, Papalote, Estela’s, Mariachi’s). 

Late Breakfast? Relax at these yummy spots (Dottie’s True Blue, Tita’s Hale Aina, Boogaloos, Doloros Park Café)

Catching up with friends? Try something different (Aperto, Aux Delices,Jakarta, Pho Phu Quoc, )

Restaurants by Neighborhood:
Portrero Hill –Aperto Restaurant, Atlas Café
Mission– Bissap Baobab, Boogaloos, Charanga, Dolores Park Café, Jays Cheesesteak, Little Baobab, Mariachi’s, Papalote
Downtown and Tenderloin – Aux Delices, Dottie’s True Blue Café, Notes from the Underground Café
Haight – Estela’s Fresh Sandwiches, Habana Bar y Restaurante, Jakarta, Magnolia Pub and Brewery, Metro Caffe, Rosemunde’s
Castro – Tallula
Noe Valley– Tita’s Hale ‘Aina
Sunset – Pho Phu Quoc

l.a. trip update

steven insisted on bumping "yeah" hella loud and rolling down the windows while driving around. and hella mugging. koreans.

he also insisted on taking like 5000 pictures of k-town signs.

capitol records building

r2d2 and c3po footprints at mann's chinese theatre!!!!! darth vader's were also there, but they were just regular footprints.

i don't really love l.a., but i got some love for the erotic museum....

neat-o mural off of hollywood blvd

Are You Down?
The Code for Being a Young AA/APA/APIA/AAPI Activist

By Minnie Y. ’04, Margot S. ’04, and Lisa W. M. UC Berkeley ’03 (guest writer of UC Berkeley’s Hardboiled).

One point for each question answered in the affirmative.

1. You own a BlackLava t-shirt. (+1 if you have the V. Chin shirt, +2 if you wear it to Asian American events.)
2. You own a spoken word CD.
3. You are or once were a spoken word artist. (+1 If you performed in a skinny scarf and spaghetti strap tank top.)
4. You hate Abercrombie & Fitch and dog on Asian Americans who wear it, even if they bought it pre-boycott.
5. You think Yuri Kochiyama is totally rad!
6. You own an autographed copy of “Better Luck Tomorrow.” (+1 If you were on the street team for BLT.)
7. You have a poster of one or both of the following: 1. Che 2. Malcolm.
8. You HELLA think that San Francisco is the center of the universe and the APA Movement.
9. You dyed your hair bright red at one point.
10. You protest the Euro-centric, hegemonic, patriarchal, heterocentric, capitalist petty bourgeoisie of THE MAN.
11. You are a “brother” or “sister” of the “The People’s Movement.”
12. Instead of saying “goodbye,” you say “peace”.
13. You have a Xanga, are on Friendster, and were a part of Asian Avenue.
14. You write your Friendster testimonials in Spoken Word verse.
15. You AIM name includes the words “Angry” or “Asian” or “Yellow Brown Power.”
16. If you wear glasses, they must be the thick, plastic, black rimmed glasses to show the world how intellectual you really are.
17. You are an APA conference whore.
18. You cried the first time you heard “I Was Born with Two Tongues”. (+1 If you actually cried and not just claimed you cried.)
19. You majored in, minored in, or helped start Asian American Studies at your school.
20. You only listen to hip hop and only really enjoy Talib Kweli or Dead Prez.
21. You have read one, part or all of the following: The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Fast Food Nation, Stupid White Men, or anything by bell hooks.
22. You’re so underground, you’re fucking magma.
23. As you chain smoke, you intellectualize how nicotine is the tool of THE MAN.
24. Every time you watch TV or movies, your Asiandar kicks in. (“Look! Asian woman’s arm in the back! WHAT WHAT!”)
25. You mad dog Asian women with White boyfriends (minus 1 if you've ever had a White boyfriend; minus another 1 if you actually admit you had a White boyfriend, but you swear it was when you were really young and before you became down).
26. You hate on AZN Asians as much as White people, if not more.
27. You hate on Asian fraternities or sororities, but used to go those parties before you were down (minus one if you ever pledged an Asian
sorority, minus two if you were a Little Sis).

If you scored 21 or more:
Congratulations, Poster Child de La Revolución. You’re so down, you’re abajo. After finishing your manifesto and reaping vegetables in your biosphere, we’ll see you at ECAASU 2005, fool. Paz.

11- 20:
Poseur. What’s up, poser? Put down that copy of Audrey and read Asian Americans: The Movement and the Moment already. Practice raising your fist and looking hard in the mirror when no one's looking.

0 – 10:
You’re a tool of THE MAN. Proceed immediately to San Francisco and get a picket sign already.

Minnie Y. ’04 is a part of the Chinese Filipina What?! (CFW) club. Lisa W.M. UC Berkeley ’03 is not only a CFW founder, but she’s also a member. Marg0t S. ’04 tries to be the “C” in CFW.

so i'll be a shadowboxer, baby
it's been a great week. returned from a mentally/emotionally exhausting dc/nyc trip (my third trip in three weeks) with coffee jitters and a case of sleep deprivation bordering on delirium. but i've relished being back in the warm hug of the bay area for the past few days, and we've been eating really well. thursday night we decided to save money and eat in for a change. i made my mom's nationwide famous chow fun--hadn't made it in quite a while, but i aced it. we pigged out and passed out in a greasy, but happy food coma. the next morning i made my specialty, the salmon-green onion scramble over sticky rice. later in the afternoon we knocked back a few pints at the bear's lair, just like old times with anne. they've totally descrated upper sproul, such a shame.

friday night steve made a crab dinner--SO GOOD. we conked out again, woke up around 1:30, and went to thalassa for a last-call vodka tonic and then top dog for a late-night snack. saturday we went with alex to the oyster and beer festival in north beach. it was crazy crowded, but the sun was out, and there were beer and oysters, so all was good. the beer lines were too long, so we got some 24 ouncers at a corner store and sat on a stoop with our seafood and liquor. and, for those wondering, oysters actually are aphrodisiacs. damn, they are. we ended the night with the stoners at a korean restaurant on telegraph (i wimped out and got chicken katsu) followed by manhattan at home.

cd resurrection of the moment: fiona apple, tidal

dupont circle, washington, dc, march 2004


big sur, march 2004

i've decided a blog is basically a surrogate boyfriend, so now that i have a legit SO, i've abandoned my blog. sorry, my faithful readers, updates will be sporadic.

honolulu, march 2003

oh man. the sky opened up to me this morning at 6 a.m. driving into the city. it was creamy yellow and shiny blue and there were no clouds to interfere. the commuting cars streamed quietly into the city via the bay bridge, and i had visions of coffee. such a beautiful sight.

You're France!

Most people think you're snobby, but it's really just that you're better than everyone else.  At least you're more loyal to the real language, the fine arts, and the fine wines than anyone else.  You aren't worth beans in a fight, unless you're really short, but you're so good at other things that it usually doesn't matter.  Some of your finest works were intended to be short-term projects.
Take the Country Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid

roads
in hawaii, i stuck my nose in julian barnes' talking it over, and there's an interesting distinction made in the story, between falling in love and being in love. you see how falling in love is different from "the chase"? i hate it when people say they love "the chase" -- it sounds so vulgar and void of emotion. i feel like the chase delineates the hanging out, the "i'm breezy" phone calls, and the "it's not a date" dates part, the "do you like me?" bit. who could really like prefer that part of it? sure, it's an essential component, but it's also so juvenile, so middle school, like eating animal crackers before your soy sauce soaked tender veal cheeks. falling in love is different from the chase. it's the time of discovery, of "firsts," of having to be near each other all the time, of being perfectly content to lie in bed all day and chat, stuff that slips away after a while, when you settle into the comfortable and somewhat complacent "being in love" phase. the "being in love" phase definitely has its perks, but i think overall i prefer the falling in love part the best out of everything. it only happens once in the relationship and for a finite amount of time, which makes it all the more sweet.

it's a weird feeling, being able to see the end from the beginning. relationships are supposed to be full of promise starting out, but i think there's also a sense of fatality there, an unshakeable feeling that the end (as inconceivable as it seems) will be bloody or at the very least turbulent. there is no modern romance.

---------------------------------
an interesting read: the politics of the lonely crowd

flurry of updates before i'm off to pass out for a minimum two hour nap so i can be sufficiently awake and coherent before getting faded tonight at scott's:
- i'm going to be in dc mar. 25-28 and then nyc mar. 28-30, and would love to meet up with anyone in the vicinity of those areas at those times
-going to see the yyys next tuesday at the fillmore (read the interview and see why karen o is my idol)
-still waiting to hear from one more grad school, but it's a real reach, so it looks like i'll be off to maryland come june
-hawaii pics to come

off to hawaii for a week. be back next wednesday. it's a tough life, i tell you.

a reaction to some soft skin
all of my close friends seem to have sex on the brain, and i love it. nothing makes me happier than hearing (and subsequently retelling) people's sexual misadventures. these include the confusion surrounding omnipresent pads, post-coital crying, signs from god that you shouldn't be having sex, and the standoff over who should be buying the condoms (answer: ALWAYS the guy). i love marvelling at the draughts (two years!!) and the floods (five guys in five months), both of which i heartily commend.

people always seem to be talking about relationships, too: what to do about a guy who doesn't share your political beliefs or your level of emotional detachment, the inability to find the proper time to break up with a boyfriend (answer: after LSATs), how to deal with exes lurking around every corner, and the urban myth (recently discovered to be true) of successfully turning a hookup into a relationship. people spend so much time looking for and endlessly analyzing signs of love or desire, it's crazy.

anyways. keep those stories coming. :)

---------------------------

also, dirty dancing: havana nights: WHO'S COMING WITH?? diego luna is fucking hot.

and, there are really few things sexier than a guy recommending a book to you that he thinks you'll enjoy and loaning you his copy. :D

ok this one's for sam, who i know will probably read this tonight because he's the type of guy to check blogs on a friday night (it's not an insult!):

finally gave in and watched goddamn vanilla sky. i saw abre los ojos (the original version of the film) one random saturday night in england with my flatmates in jenna's room when it was on the bbc or itv or something. abre los ojos gave me fucking chills, and i couldn't sleep a wink that night (ask sam, i think i called him). it was a total mindfuck; it was unexpected, it was visceral, it was about science, and arrogance, and love, and physical beauty, and utter ugliness, and sex, and the completely fabricated line between dreams and reality, and the lengths people will go to in order to blind themselves to things they can't handle or don't want to see. even the title, "open your eyes," has so much more meaning than "vanilla sky."

damn, do i have a bone to pick with cameron crowe -- he has this annoying tendency to simplify everything, to sanitize it, and he throws in all these unnecessary pop culture and music references (which is probably why sam likes him so much; cameron crowe is the nick hornby of film). cameron crowe took the soul out of abre los ojos and replaced it with tom fucking cruise. also, he's really got a thing for conventionally beautiful women -- kate hudson? penelope cruz? he fetishizes them with his camera, and it's just too easy for men to fall in love with them. i dunno, i think his movies aren't very challenging, that's all. it's not a bad movie, i suppose, but it didn't give me chills.

OH MY GOD it's fucking true!!!!!! all the guys i know are "the boy next door"!!

if you are a guy and you took the test in the last post, and you're NOT the boy next door, please leave a comment, so i know the apocalypse isn't near.

on a related note, it seems the girls are, well, girlish: two girls i know are "the priss" and one is "the sonnet." wtf, gender roles?

got this test from corliss:

The Wild Rose
    Colorful, but unpicked. You are The Wild Rose.
    Prone to bouts of cynicism, sarcasm, and thorns, you excite a certain kind of man. Hoping to gather you up, he flirts and winks and asks you out, ultimately professing his love. Then you make him bleed. Why? Because you're the rare, independent, self-sufficient kind of woman who does want love, but not from a weakling.
    You don't seem to take yourself too seriously, and that's refreshing. You aren't uptight; you don't over-plan. Romance-wise, sex isn't a top priority--a true relationship would be preferable. For your age, you haven't had a lot of bonafide love experience, though, and this kind of gets to core of the issue. You're very selective.
    The problem is them, not you, right? You have lofty standards that few measure up to. You're out there all right, but not to be picked up by just anyone.

"You're never truly single as long as you have yourself."
ALWAYS AVOID: The Bachelor
CONSIDER: The Vapor Trail.

WTF IS THE VAPOR TRAIL!?!?!?