caps & gowns & best friends

you know it's june when you start feeling a little more relaxed (coupled with a touch of recklessness during off hours); there's just something about the summer air that recircuits your body and mind. you also know it's june when there's an overload of wedding photos being curated all over social media mediums (june is the ever-so popular month for weddings) and graduation photos as well. graduates galore!

skater boys

yesterday i ended up locking myself out of my apartment

when my friend noah and tony came to pick me up for some coffee

over at the bourgeois pig in my neighborhood (coffee & $1 pool games?!).

guess i got too excited to see a couple of old friends, haha.
it was a nice surprise when a couple more joined us later in the day.

my friend catherine

hair and makeup

time

i went to go see my parents and my little brother today after work. i don't think i ever fully realized just how much time has passed--looking at the three of them, it hit me that we're all aging. my fourteen year old brother is going through adolescence, i'm here learning how to shed the foolishness of youth, my father (who used to stand defiant and full of strength) is now aged and his back isn't so rigidly straight anymore, and my mother, the matriarch, tired and wise all at the same time. it seems so strange, because to my eyes they still look like they're in their late thirties, early forties, but every now and then i'll catch a glimpse of the years they weathered. i guess we as our parents' children have a fixed perception of this thing called time when it comes to our family--we forget that as we grow, so do our makers.

right now, i'm trying to figure out how to deal with this realization, especially since my father's ill. seeing him, this man who would strike so much fear into my intimidated heart, seeing him so thin and vulnerable...i never thought he'd ever seem so small to me. ever. in my life. and being faced with this, that looming thought that i subconsciously ignore hits me like lightning: my parents are human. and they age right along with me. and honestly, they may not have much longer.

to imagine a world without the very people who brought you into this world, who raised you, taught you from right and wrong, who provided for you, sacrificed so much for you, who give and give and give and give.. i'd be lying if i said that i'm not horribly and utterly frightened by it.

to be honest, i'm scared shitless.

you are greatly missed

i can't believe that today marks the second year that you were taken from us, my dear friend. it still feels like it was only yesterday when we were all hyped up to celebrate your birthday with you. you were taken from us way too soon, way too soon, and we were all so heartbroken and filled with shock and anger... to tell you the truth, i don't think i ever really recovered from that. i miss you everyday, and i miss hearing your voice through our countless aim conversations, i miss how you would always check up on me to see how i'm doing, if i'm doing okay. i miss how you would always have an open ear for my problems (i'll never forget how you said "that nigga loves you, he just don't know it yet" haha), how you'd come over to dobbs randomly, i miss all those nights we stayed awake having inebriated fun with the rest of the fam. i miss your laugh, your smile, i miss how you'd always rape my twitter feed with the funny ass cocky shit that went on in your mind, and i miss the yogurtland breakfasts we'd have the morning after being incredibly fucked up. I MISS YOU, lover, and though your time on this earth was cut short, you live in the hearts of all of us and we all know you're watching over. i still cry, when i think about that fateful day when i got the call that you passed on, though i know if you were here, you'd tell me to stop being such a girl, haha.

little ray of sunshine

3MG at lacma

the first of many monthly hip hop shows at lacma for through the mic.

i was so stoked to see them get together (first time in five years) to kick this series off!

and i leave you with this:

this one's for matt

Matthew Christian Bancod, 8/25/1986 - 4/23/2012

April 23, 2012 marked the end of a life that belonged to someone who was a beloved friend, brother, uncle, nephew, cousin and son. Everyone who came to know him gathered at his home in Ontario, grieving together and swapping stories of good times and nostalgic childhood memories. Although I wasn't close to him, nor were we really friends, it's still very shocking and sad to bear witness the passing of a life so young.

random saturdays

went to chinatown for some dim sum + xmas shopping with sean & steven.

my friend quinton...

kaimonet workshop.

my lovely friend kai had her first workshop over the weekend

and made feather necklaces that turned into headbands.

i went over to take some pictures and hang out with a few of my favorite people.

waiting.

kat.

my friend kat.

she's a lovely writer.

first post from my phone.

i recently downloaded the blogger application on my phone and this is the first time i'm using it. usually i'm kind of ocd about the way my blogposts look so i'm curious to see what it looks like if posted from this droid-contraption of mine.

anyway, a picture of olivia to start the day! i'm over at my nannying job right now and we're watching tangled =) i've grown to love this little girl. as you can see, she's always on the move, haha.

so, in a bout of bad writer's block i asked on twitter and facebook (via status update and tweet), to suggest some writing topics for me.

i got some good ones and i'll be posting them here when i'm done. in the mean time, here's a list of what they are:

- suicide note, laura chau.
- heartbreak, mike pen.
- polygamy/mcdonald's dollar menu/lysol, gee.
- confusion, bernadette vito.

plus i have a new topic from the writing exercise i'm doing with jonathan (who i lovingly call 'navales').
it's a pretty good one and i'm excitedddd.

and i have a few nwc goodies on the way, yay!

allen & amoeba.

i almost forgot i had these pictures.

hung out with my friend allen on a random day.

i like to spontaneously call him up to hang out and do nothing.

we do that quite well.

we went to in-n-out.

went to amoeba (i fucking love that place).

then kinda crashed urban outfitters to break my heart.

boone gallery blues.

it's not really the blues, but it sounds cool to say.

i'm a gallery facilitator here at the boone gallery, over at lacma.

sometimes it gets really dull, a little too familiar, routine.

but the people i work with make it really fun to spend inside the dim-lit place.

here's a little peek into the things i see at work.

just outside, these conservationists work on a 900(?) year old korean buddhist monk painting.

star's nail salon.

nanny, nanny.

I've been working since I was fifteen and I've had a wide variety of jobs.

I've been a barista, a florist, an artist assistant, gallery facilitator, sales associate, key holder, server...

I've worked at various places and oftentimes I've kept three jobs all at the same time.

I'm kind of a hustler (no, not a diva, Beyonce), and I've always worked a lot.

Now, I have a new job title that I can add to my list: nanny.

Seeing how I have a younger brother who's nine years younger than me,

I'm used to babies, and I love them, I go crazy over babies at work (LACMA).

So you'd think being a nanny is no different from babysitting and playtime.

Boy, was I wrong.

So much responsibility, and since she's not my kid and not even related to me,

I feel like I have to be extra careful and extra cautious.

I kind of get a little anxiety attack just by thinking about all the possibilities of what can go wrong.

Lucky for me, I am nanny to one of the mellowest,

laid-back, non-fussy babies I've ever come across.

Everyone, meet Olivia Valentina Moon-Tsai.

Isn't she adorable?

I love taking care of her.

And I really, really, really like her mother.

This woman works, keeps the house, AND cooks/bakes everything from scratch.

Her father's a really chill guy as well.

And, of course, one of the perks of being nanny to Olivia

is that her mother makes really good breakfast

and lets me raid her fridge

and I never leave the place feeling hungry.