Peace Out Junior Year

It's been more than a month since I finished my junior year and started my summer. This third year has been a huge reflection of lessons resulting from many failures and discovering a little more about myself along the way.

As mentioned in a previous post, it took me six weeks to get use to my first semester of junior year in Fall 2018. I had a really bad case of anxiety and I am not afraid to admit it. It is a problem. I was also taking five classes, one class more than the previous two semesters (internship class doesn't count in my opinion) and they were all upper division courses. I felt I did not have enough time to study and understand all the material I was given. To add to it, cooking on my own. That I cannot do and I am not afraid to admit that too. Cooking is not my forte and all I could think of was cooking and washing dishes would cut into my study time. It takes me a lot of time to understand the curriculum and I knew that. As a result, health and relationships were put to the back burner. It was me and my books all the time, barely any free time, just working on school stuff the minute I get up or I will be thinking about schoolwork already.

The take away was... I totally failed to adult, needed to ask for some help from my family, specifically from my mom (so grateful) to help make food for me. I realized after my fall semester that I had to make goals for 2019 to improve A LOT of things. For starters, focus on my health, to do exercise and work on my relationships with people by meeting up with them. I managed to maintain exercising once a week. I felt mentally and physically great. I was able to catch up with friends who I did not get to the previous semester and continue working on all my relationships with people I interacted with.

One of the biggest lessons I learned and discovered was there are so many things out of one's control but things always have a way of working themselves out. Towards the end of the semester, I was feeling defeated on internship hunting and a little bit overwhelmed with various events that came up that I had to work my schedule around. For the former, I just kept persisting and going without giving up. For the latter, I took a step back, breathe, and did what I could do, one step at a time. Add the changes and blend them into my schedule by adjusting and rearranging. In addition to that, for my spring semester, I worked part-time at school, first job ever. Totally new to me and was a bit scared, but learned a lot and became a stronger and communicative person for it. Five classes that turned to four classes after five weeks with a job was not easy for me, but it made me find out that I was able to handle more than I thought. I did not get all the results that I wanted for my courses but I learned to accept that I can't control the outcome, only what I can do, which was work hard. As long as I know I tried my best, whatever the outcome did not matter. One can only control so much and let the unknown take its own course.

Here to a wonderful life lesson school year and more to come senior before I enter the real world.

Bold Pas 2019

Weekends call for... art! Every year, for the past two years, my family and I attend the BoldPas event in Pasadena. It is a full day where art takes over Old Pasadena for a single Saturday. This year, it fell on June 8. Before attending the event, we headed to Fig Sprout for lunch. I ordered 1/4 Chicken Dark and Ratatouille as my side. The chicken was juicy and tender. The ratatouille was hot and delicious with a variety of veggies. Then off we went to see art in Old Pasadena. I saw my previous boss, Bobbie from Pasadena Media too! It was nice to see her and catch up a bit. I even saw a community producer I worked with and did an episode with on a show. Always great to see my Pasadena Media family again. Some of the art exhibits are below including one art exhibition, Space. Enjoy!

Fig Sprout

The Constance of Glory by Olga Lah

Higher Ground by Alycia Cornelius and Laura Kapp

Above the Fold by Patricia Diefenderfer

Coming Up Roses by Hilda Rios 

Pink is the new kinda lingo by Chelsea Boxwell

A Street Art Mural by Gary Pappani and Santos Cortes 

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there! Thank you Dad for being one of the biggest influences in my life. Because of all the bedtime stories you told me as a kid, I am pursuing a career in storytelling. You support me in everything I do even the crazy things I do. Thank you for being the logical person I go to for advice when I need it the most. I can always count on you to cheer me up when I'm at my lowest. Thank you for being the best dad a girl can ask for.

Hope all of you spent the day with your dad and/or father figures in your lives!

YOUR Time Will Bloom

Time is an illusion. You may feel you are running out of time to reach where you want to be, whether it is in your personal life or in your career. We look to the left and we see someone succeed. We turn to ourselves and we only see failures. We look to the right and we see someone finding his true self after traveling the world and discovering his full capability. We turn and only see ourselves lost in a daze, wondering where and when we will find our own footing on this Earth.

What we forget is everything happens for a reason. Everything falls into place, at the right time in YOUR timeline. Don't compare yourself with others because their path to get to where they are going or finding their true passion in life is ABSOLUTELY DIFFERENT from yours. Things may not work out the way you envision it in your head. That is okay. It just means your time hasn't come yet. Don't feel pressured or rushed. The universe has its way of doing things. What you see right now as an obstacle is only one step closer to where you should and will be. These steps are all to help you to be stronger, wiser, and better.

All the events you went through are to prepare you for what's to come. You WILL get there. Your time will come. Just you wait and see what the universe has in store for you.

May Adventures 2019 Recap

May was full of amazing new food adventures. 

One of them was a new food adventure for my parents who came out to visit me in Fullerton. We went to Aleppo's Kitchen for Mediterranean food. I have went here first with one of my good friends and decided to introduce the place to my parents since they both like Mediterranean food as well. They both liked it too! I got the chicken shawerma. The rice has its own unique taste. The chicken was great with the two sauces: humus and yogurt. The salad was a beautiful plus for we all need greens in our lives. 

Finally got the chance to hang out with a lovely, sweet girl, Rachel, from my business program. We decided on Red Robin's as I never been and I was a bit craving a burger. I got the Banzai, which had teriyaki-glazed patty, grilled pineapple, Cheddar, lettuce, tomatoes and mayo. It was good. All the flavors were all there. It was very messy though. A lot of the stuffing fell out as I ate it and the sauce dripped everywhere. Not a very civilized burger I must say. I would recommend having the patty medium-rare. I had it well-done and it was a tad dry but still good with all the sauce and pineapple to mask it. The fries were great, always love fries wherever I go.

Summer started the minute finals were over. My friends and I celebrated at Broth Shabu Shabu. It was about $17 per person, all-you-can-eat shabby shabu. You can get as much food as you want and reload on appetizers. It was pure bliss. Loved. I love to eat so I could have stayed forever. It was like heaven. Meats, veggies, noodles, seafood. I really liked the kale noodles. It has this flavor and texture I really liked. The lamb was great, super tender and juicy. The chicken karaage appetizer was also amazing. We ordered a lot of it too. Definitely recommend this place for a cold day or to those who love shabu shabu as like me. After a very happy lunch, we went to Soma for boba. I got the lychee high mountain tea with basil seeds. I really liked it. I can definitely taste the lychee flavor and the basil seeds were really good. It added a little something extra to it. Then two of us went to watch Endgame, which was also amazing. Loved it. I cried three times. So great of a movie. I can't believe it is the last of the series. Can't wait to see the individual standalones for some of the superheroes in the future. What a great first day of summer thanks to Inna, Anna, and Tu.

Did some little errands on campus and chose to do a little sightseeing. Love the waterfall and our campus's newest Promenade was officially done before graduation. It is a nice touch but I did not find it necessary. A good plus for another location to take grad pictures at.

Spent a day with Melody after two years. Lots of catching up and talking about our summer plans. We headed to Downtown Disney and did some window shopping. After that, we ate lunch at Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen. I got the Cheesesteak Po-Boy. The parmesan-garlic fries were amazing. Loved. So good with ketchup. The cheesesteak was also really good. Super tender meat. The onions, arugula, tomatoes, and green goddess dressing were great. The sauce wasn't too heavy.  The cheese wasn't too much either. Just right. Then off to Anaheim Packing House after a little more window shopping. First time to both places and to Downtown Disney actually since they implemented the security check-in. The Packing House was very hipster. Lots of food spots to choose. Perfect for hangouts with friends and family. We stopped at Mini Monster and I got the Jasmine Milk Tea. Simple and good. Got to meet her dog, Milo, for the first time later as well. Super cute dog. A great meet up day.

Alas, home sweet home. We went to Ho Kee Cafe for breakfast and ordered multiple dishes. We had the beef stomach soup noodle, fresh fish porridge, shredded duck meat and preserved veg. porridge, sliced duck rice noodle, minced pork preservated veg. rice noodle, House Fried Rice Vermicelli, Spam Instant Noodle Soup, and a Hong Kong Style Butter Bun. They were all so so amazing. Delicious. I liked the HK Style Butter Bun a lot. The butter was melted into the bread. Perfection. The porridges and rice noodles were great. Comfort food at its finest. All pretty light and simple. Not heavy.

Practiced driving before my internship started to get used to the traffic and get familiar with the area. My mom and I stopped by G.E Chano's Restaurant. First time even though it has been there forever. We ordered the Enchiladas Combo Plate with chicken and a Chorizo Burrito (not pictured). Really good! The enchiladas were great. Not too heavy. The Spanish rice and beans were good. Pretty light. The burrito was amazing. Lots of stuffing inside. Mexican sausage, with scrambled eggs and beans. Light, really filling, and great. It was wrapped really nicely, firm and collected. Not dry at all. A great gem that's been there all these years. Happy to finally try it out. We also went to OneZo and got Black Sesame Milk Tea (one cold, one hot-not featured). Definitely tasted the black sesame flavor. Not too much, just right. I liked it. It is different and unique from other milk tea shops. The boba has different flavors. Ours were sesame boba. Something one will only find here, at least for now.

A nice get-a-away from MPK to Venice. My sister had a half day so she took our mom and me to Venice Canals. So so pretty. So peaceful and serene. Then we stopped at the Do What You Love street art by Ruben Rojas. Always chasing art. Kind of an art geek/lover since as long as I can remember. Such a beautiful piece of art. A great message for everyone to live by.

Always tea time any time of day. My sister and I got three drinks for Sip Matcha: Earl Grey Milk Tea, Lychee Oolong Tea, and Hibiscus Fruit Tea. All three drinks were quite lovely.

A little grocery shopping for the day with my parents. Got lots of good food and three little mochi from Tokyo Central. Fresh and really light. They all had red bean. Really good. The one with the oak leaf had an enhance flavor as the oak leaf added a little something special. The leaf is not edible.