Spin Art

I never had the privilege of knowing about Spin Art until I came to college... but apparently most people passed by the Spin Art machine with words like, "OMG SPIN ART! I used to love that!" Maybe I lived under a rock when I was younger for not knowing about this magical toy, but Spin Art is pretty cool.

Letters

What is it about handwritten letters that make it so special?

In a technological age, people tend to fancy the virtual messages, but you can't physically hold these messages in your hand. You can't touch the paper and know that some time ago, your friend also had this piece of paper.

Handwriting shows character. Maybe the person likes to write fast and forgets to dot the i's or cross the t's. Maybe the person has terrible writing all together and the words just come out as scribbles. Or maybe each word is written with such precision the words almost seem typed. Either way, the writing itself becomes part of the person's personality. It's a part of the people you can keep forever even when the memories fade away...

Anyways I write this post because last semester, my high school friends and I were very good at keeping up with the old-fashioned mail. We've been slacking recently, but now I've been reminded what makes these postcards and letters so wonderful.

My Favorite Airport

Is it strange to have a favorite airport? I would've thought myself funny for having such a "favorite ___" until I first stepped foot into the O'Hare International Airport in Chicago. This place is like paradise... (for an airport I mean. Travel will always be stressful no matter what).

Because there is no direct flight from Syracuse to Los Angeles, my options for layovers are either in Chicago or New York City. I always choose to go to the airport in Chicago because there is just so much to see inside the terminals! The food court is jazz themed and there are often hot dog stands and popcorn stands at the sides... It's like walking downtown on a street with what seems to be gourmet food!

Anyways, that's my favorite airport. What's yours?

It's a small world.

I took this picture last November-- my first experience of all four seasons on the East Coast! Today I went through my files just to find and show my mother this picture.

What compelled this, you ask? My mother was talking to her CPA (certified public accountant) when the subject of families/children came up as most small talk turns towards. Turns out the accountant earned her undergrad accounting degree from Syracuse!!! And after that, BOOM instant bonding time! They compared experiences (my mother speaking on my behalf as I wasn't there to witness this event) from outdoor activities to studies and reputation, etc.

One thing the CPA specific mentioned was how beautiful the city was in the fall with the autumn leaves. My mother asked me about this later when she came home, so I just had to expose her to this picture I took when I stood in awe at the colorful autumn leaves.

Irvine Spectrum

Ferris Wheel at Irvine Spectrum

Cali Culture

Obligatory In-N-Out post.

The Lighting of Lawrinson

Palm Tree

A Dolphin

Otto the Orange

Every year our residence hall has this one event called the Lighting of Lawrinson. The RA's create designs for the sides of our building and notify everyone whether they need to close their curtains or hang up a certain color tint! It's mostly cool because of the giant group effort it takes for everyone (well, most people) to comply.

This year's theme is "Spring Break," so the RA's created a palm tree, a dolphin, Otto the Orange, and a sun (that was too crappy to take a picture of and show you... sorry).

Late

Today was the first time EVER that I was tardy to class. Seriously. This is so unlike me. When planning to take my nap, I set my alarm to 5:40pm so I'd have a full 20 minutes to prepare and get to class.

I woke up at 6:40pm and arrived at class an hour late. Funny the teacher didn't care much when I began to fabricate the excuse, "Oh, I probably should've told you I was going to be late today..."

Anyways, 2 hours later adding up to 4 hours total on this piece, this is the progress.

Life's a Party

I'm a strong believer in the clause: Life is what you make of it.

I actively seek interesting things to do everyday. Every weekend I try something new to broaden my experiences. Despite my love for the internet, I don't want to spend my weekends cooped up in my room. Whenever I talk to my friends from home, there's always a story to tell-- embarrassing and awkward recounts, new things I've tried, interesting people I've met... And whenever I ask them in return, "How was your day?" the answer I receive is nowhere near as interesting.

I didn't mean to ask rudely, but I asked nonetheless, "why don't you have any interesting stories to tell?" After hearing that my friend woke up, ate, went on the internet, time after time again, I even found his life boring and repetitive. But that's the way he likes it. That's the way he is lives contently. It's funny how people's tastes are different. The thought of leading that type of life gives me the chills. I can already see the future... 9am to 5pm job. Come home to a family. Eat. Sleep. Wake up again. It's all so DULL.

Someday I'm going to live a very fulfilling life. I'll make sure of it.

"Tenting"

Layers of blankets in our homey tent!

It's the night before the Syracuse vs. Georgetown basketball game, as Jillian had mentioned in one of her earlier posts (I think). And of course we camped out starting 8am this morning, separating our friends into different shifts so that representatives from our groups would be in line 24/7.

I took the 6:30pm-10pm shift. My next one is the dreaded 5am-9am shift. It was my first time "camping out" per say even though I didn't have to spend the night out in the cold. I was with my friends Josh and Skye and we had a fantastic time making up words (like "tenting"), watching Midnight in Paris, and eavesdropping on nearby "tenters" who were obviously drunk, loud, and obnoxious blasting their rap music and playing beer pong outside.

I had originally thought that camping out meant taking nature by its full force, but I couldn't be more wrong. The school had staff people passing out free ice cream and pizza to campers. Occasionally they'd take roll call to make sure each group had present representatives in queue. Group numbers 67, 68, and 69 REPRESENT! :)

Figure Drawing

Today was the first day in about three years I did figure drawing. As I took out my painting and began to set up, my teacher told me he had brought in a model today and that'd we'd be sketching instead!

I remember the first time I did real figure drawing was when I took a summer art camp at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art-- first time I saw naked people and had to draw them. You'd think it is a big deal, but people get over it pretty quickly. In the mind of an artist you just look at the folds of the skin and the wrinkles and the shape of the muscles, and you pretty much forget the fact that you're looking at a naked man. Last year I took a figure painting class. It gave different challenges because the focus is on the lighting and skin tone colors from warm to cool rather than the actual shape of the body.

What I do love most about figure drawing though are the actual models. Unlike still life, these people have lives! You can talk to them and get to know them. They have opinions on music and politics! I feel like models are one of the most confident people I know: comfortable in their own skin and comfortable at socializing... in the nude.

Anyways, it was quite fun... I think "Art Wednesdays" will be a theme. You know... since I have art class every Wednesday and I seem to consistently post my artwork anyhow.

Shadowing

Maybe I want to be a reporter someday. Maybe.

And seeing as I basically have no experience with this stuff, I decided to join CitrusTV, the campus news broadcast station. Before I go out and report my own stories, I am supposed to shadow reporters and basically learn from them.

Today was my first shadow :D I met this one girl named Kaitlyn (in the photo) who was creating a package about the Winter Carnival for the 6:00 show. It was quite fun actually... I watched her interview people at the student union and helped carry the equipment back to the studio where we edited using this super slow software called Avid. People were nice and introduced themselves to me which was pretty cool!

Future reporter? Someday, maybe.

Teacher's Pet?

I don't like my sociology teacher much. He mumbles, "mmm right?" after every other sentence. His presentation is long-winded, and he tries to garner student participation through questions that don't even pertain to sociology. He'd ask us to give examples about where we shop to fit a scenario he would make up, which frankly means that our participation does nothing to further our understanding of sociology.

But my biggest pet peeve is when my sociology teacher watches the clock. Wait, scratch that; there's no clock in the room. My biggest pet peeve is when my sociology teacher awkwardly stares at the students' wrists for their watches when lecturing at the front of the class. I understand if you want to keep track of the time, but staring at the clock 10 minutes into a 55 minute lecture is ridiculous. After a month of this disrespect, I felt sassy.

Today I brought my alarm clock to class. I set the alarm to 1:40pm and placed it on the desk in front of me right before the professor. I think I wanted it to be seen as a bit rude. I wanted to make a point: I will disrespect the teacher by sarcastically placing the clock in front of him since he desperately wants to be out of this classroom.

I still don't understand how unfazed he was by my act of rebellion. He even thanked me for the clock and used it twice to keep track of time. WHAT THE HECK?!

Journaling

I think almost everyone has at least tried to keep a diary or journal when they were young. I was one of the people who never succeeded. I belonged to the group that always wanted to get into the habit of journaling every January, but failed half way through the year, only to leave the notebook with 20 or so written pages that are then torn out to start afresh the next year.

The thing that intimidated me most when starting a diary was always the content. I always felt like I owed the notebook a dark, juicy secret because diaries are meant for secrets, right? Or is it meant recount the exciting adventures I had that day? At least that's what I thought as a kid. But my life wasn't full of gossip and drama to write about, so I made some stories up-- stretched the emotions a bit... Turns out the only real thing I had to complain about was getting a C on a test, and how I couldn't possibly let my parents know about it.

For Christmas my friend, Mona, gave me this T.A.R.D.I.S. themed journal, so once again, I'm trying to keep up with entries at least once a week. It's worked so far, but the major difference I've noticed is in my entries' content.

Keeping a diary isn't just for my non-existent juicy secrets. Let's face it, my life is nowhere near as shady as that of a fictional heroine. My journal is a place to de-stress. If my mind is cluttered from all that I have to do, I write my anxieties down, read it over, and objectively try to solve my own problems on the next page! If there are any burning philosophical/psychological questions stuck in my mind, I write those down too just for the sake of organizing my thoughts. Doing so, I realize I actually have lots to write about in my journal.

I don't know whether it's because my cognitive skills have developed more, and hence have more to think about and write down, since my 15 year old self, or maybe I've just grown to be a more interesting person, but now I can't imagine life without lined paper to write down my thoughts.

WonderWorks

We went to a magical place called WonderWorks. It's a mini theme-park that can be best described as a pseudo-science museum and a laser tag/rope climbing adventure... thing... place.

Overall the experience was wonderful. There was plenty to do and much to see from hurricane stimulations to a bed a nails to optical illusions! Anyways I'm much too tired to really give a full review about this place, but trust me when I give it a 5/5!

Art Wednesdays

Maybe it'll be a thing. Maybe not. Let's try it out.

You're probably sick of seeing this picture over and over again. Trust me, I wanted it to be done too. And it finally is finished as of today!!!

To be honest I'm actually quite proud of this picture for several reasons...

1. It's something I created out of my mind. Not a copy of anything else. The idea came; then I found picture references of fire and a woman posing as if she was blowing a kiss to create the painting.
2. Heck. I haven't completed a piece of art since my AP Art portfolio was due May 2012!
3. It's probably one of the better pieces I've done in a long time... something that took thought and time and energy.

Anyways, I can't wait for the final touches to dry so I can sign my name and date in the bottom right corner :D

Next up? Well it looks pretty crappy right now, but that's how they all start out right? Presenting the Dandy Lion!

I've only spent about 2 hours on this so far... Well less than that considering the undeniably long break I took to walk around the room and go on the Internet.

A Different Lunar New Year

I would never consider myself someone who adopted my ethnic culture. In fact, amongst my Asian friends, I probably was the most "white-washed" per say. But one of the most Asian traditions I've kept is celebrating Chinese New Year (probably because of the money but that's not the point).

My first year away from home meant not celebrating with my family... actually, not celebrating with anyone at all, since I seem to be the only Chinese person I'm close to. :P I discovered that I miss a lot of the things I used to do before moving away:

1. Helping my mother make radish cake. <- sounds disgusting but it's sooooo good. Plus, it's not a conventional cake per say. It's more like a paste.
2. BEING THERE IN PERSON TO COLLECT MY MONEY! Instead I was sent one envelope from my mother.
3. Playing Mahjong with the fambam.
4. Eating the greatest food and candy on the face of the earth.
5. The decorations and festivities that don't seem to exist here...

Almost Done

It's been three weeks (9 hours... geez I'm slow) since I started this 18" x 24" painting.

I think it is complete for the most part, but of course there are some nit-picky things I'd like to change... the hair by the hand for instance and matching the background colors that are divided by the fire. Not to mention a signature! I've never consistently signed my artwork, but I should start keeping track of my projects.

After the first 3 hours

Hasn't it come a long way from after the first three hours? I remember after that day, I was happy with the fire for the most part, but the direction of the hair was driving me crazy! The second week of class, I focused all my attention on the locks of hair and began the dreaded face. The third week of class, I focused mainly on the face and hand.

I was pretty determined to finish last night, but I guess I didn't. Despite the time pressure I gave myself, art takes time. It shouldn't be rushed. It will finish on its own pace.

You are not alone.

"You are not alone."

You've probably heard or seen this statement at least once in your life whether it be a mental health awareness presentation at school or just browsing through posts on tumblr. And despite seeing this statement over and over, people don't seem to believe it and can't get past their insecurities. Why is it that we think our situation is so unique that an outsider could never understand? Take the following example for instance.

Last night I was talking to a friend of mine who, from time and time again, doubts his friendships. From drifting apart to paranoia, he seemed worried that no one enjoyed his company. This was the last straw for me that unleashed a long-winded rant about how the night before a friend of mine blogged about a 2 Truths and 1 Lie game he played where one of the truths included "I don't have many friends." Last week another friend of mine worried that she had damaged a precious friendship despite the fact that 1) she apologized and 2) her friend didn't even get angry. Either I befriended a bunch of antisocial losers in high school or something is clearly wrong with people's insecurities.

No matter how different or strange or messed up we think we may be, we're all one and the same. And if everyone is on the same boat, why can't you just accept the fact that what you are feeling is normal and not a fault on your part? Why can't you push these insecurities aside and say, "Yay, let's bond over our lack of friends," and move on? People often think they're alone in this aspect when in actuality, insecurity is just part of life!

So how does this relate to my Image of the Day? This is my closet door-- the "Wall of Stuff" as I like to call it. With the constant reminder through pictures, artifacts, and letters, I know I am never alone.

The Turtle Story

When my mother dropped me off here at Syracuse 6 months ago, she stopped by the mall before she left the city.  She came across a store that sold tiny inspirational turtles; so she bought a few and took them back to California. Occasionally, I get a care package with a turtle in it. I've collected one for every semester of college so far which brings me to a total of 2 inspirational turtles!

The first one I found carried the word "IMAGINE." The one I received last night says on its back, "Do what you LOVE."

I imagine these turtles to be old souls that carry words of infinite wisdom. I guess the turtles are meant to be substitutions for a mother's advice to her daughter 2,000 miles away from home. But I can hear the turtle's lesson loud and clear.

First semester: the beginning. The first step to accomplishing anything really is to envision the possibilities. Hence, IMAGINE was sent to me first last fall. Only when you imagine can you see what can be done. Dream big before shutting the unrealistic ideas down.

Second semester: the hike. Now that the possibilities are named, it's time to start the journey. Do what you LOVE. You'll realize some of the ideas you've imagined require much more thought and work, some of which you'll decided to tread through, others of which you decide to terminate. Only love will carry you through the difficult as well as the pleasant times. By finding what you love, the path to success is much more clear.