june fades into new horizons

drinking an iced sparkling matcha cooler with a touch of honey with my hair clipped into a bun. 3 bobby pins hold my bangs into place, and it is 80 degrees at 5:22 pm. listening to “shower” on vinyl, which I came across on youtube a few weeks ago and found immensely soothing, contemplative. 

wah, I can’t believe its over. I had truly been preparing for so long! the first two days after the exam, I was a mess, a sleepy vegetable of a human being, and all the energy I could muster was for a shower, a meal to nourish myself, and (surprisingly) a trip to the beach for a friends’ goodbye party. everything was a blur, to be honest, a fiercely anxious blur, as I felt everything well up inside me that had been growing cell by cell this past half year. half a year! when I think of it that way, it is difficult to believe but I really did it!

after plenty of rest, patience with myself, and feeding myself delicious meals (such as the brisket mul naengmyon with maiitake, pickled radish, and mizuna below), I finally feel like I am back to my normal self today. I overcome the self-doubt and anxiety, and am just beginning to reach out to friends again, clean my home, and take care of all the little things I didn’t have time to take care of these past few weeks (months, really).

the mul naeng myon I made yesterday!

wahhh a deep clean of the floor and tackling my laundry felt amazing. truly, getting the simple things together in life makes me feel multitudes better. and this morning I caught up with one of my close friends at a beautiful european cafe/bakery, then we spent the afternoon exploring the “dining with the sultan” middle eastern art + culture exhibition and korean art exhibition at the los angeles county museum of art. it was the perfect sunny day, and we enjoyed getting lost in the beautifully intricate details of the pottery, textiles, trinkets, eating ware, and other ancient objects from the silk road era spanning several countries.

still from an experimental short film we watched. 

I took many reference pictures to research my upcoming body of art work, “silk road baby!” I am quite eager to study them and think about how to bring the ancient past into dialogue with the far future. 

our stomachs growled so we headed to tonchin to grab a bite, and had a delicious lunch of creamy chicken mazamen with mango shaved iced for dessert. a perfect lunch date! afterwards, I wove through the LA traffic to return home in the heat, made myself a cooler and made one for h-chan as well. I will rest for a few hours now at home before heading out again later in the evening to meet for a double date in koreatown with my friend sally. 

cheers!