Weekend of Love, Discovery and Play

Clive seeing Amy for the first time in the wedding dress
Originally uploaded by gliuoo

Thursday/Friday:
Amy's wedding was the most perfect wedding I've ever been to in my entire life. I may be biased because it was Amy's wedding. But still, it was definitely beautiful. I love seeing Amy and Clive together. I enjoy hanging out with Clive's family and I appreciate how they've adopted me as a sister too. Throughout the rehearsal and wedding day, there was such warmth. I'm not the biggest fan of marriage, but experiencing being a part of a wedding broadened my perspective. I saw how amazing it is when two families unite. It's so wonderful to see the amount of love in such a room.

Saturday: hung out with mama, which was fun because we haven't played in a while. We talked about silly things, laughed and ate. I always assess the plants at her place. We talk about them like they're kids.

Sunday: had breakfast with Jonathan and for the first time, actually verbalized my plans for applying for grad school. It was nice to share ideas and get some feedback. I'm uber excited about the possibility of going back to school. Oh, how I missed it so. We went thrift-store hopping and I bought five books for $6!!!
- Modern One-Act Plays
- A Mercy by Toni Morrison
- The Plot Against America by Philip Roth
- Lake Wobegon Summer 1956 by Garrison Keillor
- The Complete Book of Vitamins (I may give this one to my mama because she's obsessed with health, especially vitamins.)

Sunday night: pleasantly surprised by a visit from Ry. Late night sushi dinner with his best friend and his girl. It's funny to watch how Ryan and Will (Ry's best friend)'s mannerisms are similar. They've been friends since junior high. Their pet peeves are pretty similar too. It's neat how friends become more like one another. Or, do we all just start out there and navigate towards those who are like us?

Overall, a jam-packed weekend of fun.

Bloom!

Bloom!
Originally uploaded by gliuoo

My mom and I potted a few plants over the 4th of July weekend. Most of my plants died while I was away in New York, so I needed new ones. The only one that survived was the persistent succulent plant. I really like succulents and cacti because they survive through anything. But, I needed a bit more color in my place, so I got a couple of flower plants. I truly enjoy them so and can't wait to come home to see how many more flowers have bloomed.

My place finally feels like my home.

Typewriter

T is for Typewriter
Originally uploaded by gliuoo

I wish I had a typewriter in a cabin near a lake.
Protected by tall trees surrounding the cabin.
The sound of the keys and "ding" at the end of the line would be all the rhythm I need in my life.
I would write poems, stories and thoughts.
Maybe even feelings.
I would write.
After I was done for the day, I would soak my feet in the cool lake and watch the blue hues take over the orange in the sky.

The Hollywood Bowl

Adele!
Originally uploaded by gliuoo

Cheese, crackers, wine, grapes, blanket and good music. I was a happy girl.

- Adele was so amazing. Her voice is even more sultry and wonderful live. She sang all my favorite songs and I really enjoyed her Etta James and Sam Cook covers. The string orchestra was such a lovely addition.
- Etta James was supposed to perform, but she backed out last minute because of an illness. I kind of expected this could happen because she's kinda crazy and I think has lots of medical issues from all her drug use when she was a young rising star.
- So, her replacement was Chaka Khan, who had a lot of hair. She was pretty fabulous. "I'm every woman" pretty much got everyone up dancing (except for my friend). I liked the little stories she would tell during the instrumental parts of the song. It was so dramatic. She talked about how she was a "bad girl," but then the grace of God saved her. After she went off about how much she loved God and Jesus, she finally said, "Okay, that's enough church! It's time to sing some more secular songs!"
- There was a sign language interpreter at the concert and she was so fun to watch, especially during Chaka Khan's set. The interpreter was totally dancing while signing.

"Daydreamer, sittin’ on the seat
Soaking up the sun he is a
Real lover, makin’ up the past and feeling up his girl like he’s never felt her figure before"

Air Sex

What have I gotten myself into?

It ought to be an interesting night...

Yowzahs!

I just checked the weather for the prison tomorrow.

99 degrees.

Good grief.

Weekend Recap and This Week

Weekend Recap:
- Amy's bridal shower: check. It was quite a stressful and hectic day, but it all worked out in the end. Although I threw up twice and felt nauseous the entire day, I think listening to my playlist titled "Girly" helped me get through it all. Amy enjoyed it, so that's all that matters.
- Wedding season has begun. It's so exciting!
- It was so nice seeing the Hong's and Charlotte yesterday. Charlotte and I realized we're like the two grumpy old men muppets.
- Keisuke made a fun shot for me. :)
- Singing "Lean on Me" with Johny was fun.
- Video game with lots of shooting at 3 in the morning is NOT okay.

This Week:
- Going to Sacramento tomorrow to visit the Solano prison. It should be an interesting trip. The best part is signing a waiver that basically says I give up all my rights and I'm okay with being taken hostage.
- Adele and Etta James on Sunday! I'm already looking forward to the weekend and it's only Monday. I have a feeling it may be a long week.

A Whole New World

Hmm, I miss singing that song with Keisuke.

I went to an art exhibit on Saturday at the Laguna Art Museum with Ryan because his work was involved with the current exhibition. I was a bit reluctant at first because Ryan works at a place where they make video games. Art and video games? But, I was pleasantly surprised. It was interesting to see the art inspired by the games. People really get immersed in the game and it becomes another realm of reality for them. I found that so fascinating. Ryan was telling me about how some guys like playing female characters because they can control the woman's actions. He said they may have a distorted view of masculinity. I found that very disturbing and interesting. It's probably not like that for all those guys, but I think it may be for some.

There was this one video piece where they just taped a player's hand movements in the game. Such coordination and agility!

The whole gaming world is so bizarre to me. I never played video games growing up and never even owned a gameboy. I think the only game I knew how to play on a gameboy was Tetris.

Sidenote: it's interesting hanging out with animators. We were at a bar the other night and Danny (Ryan's friend) gets all excited and says, "Wow, that guy has a great face. I wish I had my sketchbook." The guy did have a very cartoonish face, but I probably would not have even noticed if Danny didn't say anything. I love how we all notice different things in the world!

June Gloom

I enjoy it.

Red Flags

Exit and Oceanside Pier
Originally uploaded by gliuoo

How many red flags does it take in a relationship before one exits?

The whole pros/cons list sucks and isn't helpful at all. I guess in the end, the question is, "Does he bring me closer to God?"

Hmmm...

94/9 Independence Jam 2009

Dan from The Black Keys
Originally uploaded by gliuoo

The lineup:
- Dead Confederate: blah.
- Metric: fun
- Yeah Yeah Yeahs: I find Karen O so intriguing. I couldn't stop taking pictures of her. She's so mesmerizing and an amazing performer. She's fantastically crazy.
- The Black Keys: the band I was most looking forward to and boy, did they deliver! Dan can play a mean guitar. I couldn't even take that many pictures of them because the music was just too amazing.

Overall, it was an incredibly fun show. I think it's number two on my top five favorite shows list.

Daydream and Play

Magritte
Originally uploaded by gliuoo

That's all I wanna do...

Artgasm, Motrin and Rest (forced and voluntary)

in awe in the Degas sculpture room
Originally uploaded by gliuoo

It was time for my annual vacation. I went to New York for a week, then rested and played with friends for the rest of the time. It was quite pleasant.

Here are the memorable moments:
- gallery hopping with Charlotte
- watching basketball games with Charlotte and Josh
- art, art, art!!! = artgasm
- getting sick and having to go to the ER
- going back to the ER because I was still in pain and throwing up, then being told by the doctor to simply take some Motrin
- sitting around and watching lots of trashy television during my times of rest
- the Degas sculpture room! I yelped with glee.
- Picasso's later works. Mind-blowing.
- S'mores cupcake
- finding the perfectly sensible black blazer (thanks to Charlotte's good eye)
- meeting up with Matt: eating the yummiest mushroom burger ever and talking about books
- watching "The 39 Steps" with John MSN
- wine and cheese night with Charlotte
- girl talk with Charlotte

I heart Charlotte (and NY). But, Charlotte more.

At the end of the day,
"We got more bounce in California
Than all y'all combined
We got more bounce in California
We like to party all the time
We got more bounce in California
Where the hustlers all reside
We got more bounce in California
Rollin' easy when we ride"

It's good to be back home.

One Mic

One Mic
Originally uploaded by gliuoo

Went to a spoken word event last week and it was mind-blowing. I cried, I laughed, I swooned. I was all over the place.

A few of my observations:
- Poets are intense.
- Poets have good taste in shoes.
- It's fun to boo at the judges when you don't agree with their scores.
- Everyone has issues.

This week has been much better:

Two Thumbs Up
Originally uploaded by gliuoo

- No breakdowns during meetings
- No boy(s) dramarama
- Good sleep

I am pleased.
Looking forward to a four-day weekend. :)

JJ is a music video star:

Oh, and his Chevy too.

Boy Advice from Andrew:

Andrew working...
Originally uploaded by gliuoo

"good luck w/ the boys. we can be good and/or troubles. just don't read into guys too much. generally speaking, there isn't too much to read. unless this male is a lady-boy!"

He cracks me up.

St. Vincent

street art
Originally uploaded by gliuoo

"But I'm a wife in watercolors
I can wash away

Seventeen cold showers
Couldn't wash away

Save me
Save me
Save me from what I want"

Currently obsessed with:

Neat Rock
Originally uploaded by gliuoo

- finding neat rocks
- documentaries. "Dear Zachary" rocked my world.
- The Black Keys
- finding the perfect dining table
- blood oranges

Las Vegas

Water show at the Bellagio
Originally uploaded by gliuoo

It was my first time exploring the strange town of Las Vegas. It felt like a huge bizarre amusement park because there was music everywhere.

A list of my impressions and experiences:
- overwhelming
- too much stimuli
- yummy drinks
- yummy naps by the pool
- fun water show at the Bellagio
- lots of dancing
- a couple of not-so-good decisions

Not so sure everything that happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

We'll see.