completed, continuing, contemplating
so many things have occurred since I last wrote. I’m currently sitting on my couch with my heating pad (I worked out a bit much yesterday and my body is sore), fluffy blanket, osha root tea. I feel tired, but I have the chance to rest today. I cooked saffron tumeric chicken curry for myself.
probably the biggest thing that happened so far - I finished taking step 2! I actually made a lovely experience out of it. I got myself an airbnb in laguna beach, and there was a big fluffy black cat there who cuddled with me and became good friends with me during my stay! the testing center was nice, and I decided to go swimming in the ocean for sunset by myself after the first day of my exam. it was one of the most beautiful beaches I have stumbled across near los angeles, and I spent close to a full hour swimming in the water. I remember feeling like I wanted to shed tears of joy, and I stayed in the water until the sea swallowed the sun. afterwards, I climbed up to the top of lifeguard tower, propped my feet up, and listening to a recording of my music while watching the moonrise and afterglow of dusk (until a lifeguard nudged me to come down hehe). I treated myself to a thai massage after.
the next day, after finishing the final day of my exam, I met up with eliana in torrance for a day at the korean spa and delicious yoshoku steak and spaghetti dinner. I got my new favorite saffron pasta!
the next day, after finishing work it turns out my cousin from germany was spontaneously visiting los angeles so we went to dinner at one of my favorite restaurants bacari, and went to my friend xtine’s debut ep performance show in a cool grunge warehouse space grand star jazz club! we ended up staying until midnight as the band after her was so good, and I made some new friends.
the next morning I was so exhausted that I decided to take the day off and spend the first half off the day at home just resting. I made myself a delicious summer adaptation of korean cold noodle with fresh sliced heirloom tomato from the farmer’s market and zucchini! it felt so nice to finally cook for myself after eating out so much recently. in the evening, hiro came home and took me to an amazing michelin star dinner at bistro na! it was such a beautiful experience with delicious unique food :) after that, we somehow rallied energy to meet with eno in ktown at dgm for soju and midnight bites! oooof we did end up sleeping at 2 am though we were exhausted!
the next morning, we slept in a bit, had a pit stop at yifang (mango pomelo sago cooler!) and took eno to the observatory! it was actually my first time returning in 10 years and hiro’s first time going overall. the inside exhibit was pretty cool, and we enjoyed the views after a hoooooot hike up. we had lunch at afuri (tried the scallop crudo it was delicious!), then dropped eno off at the train station. h chan and I chilled for the rest of the evening, and the next morning we drove down to long beach after picking up my brother from the train station to have a brunch with all the cousins and then go antique shopping! it was cool to check out long beach, and I picked up a beautiful pair of vintage earrings with tibetan turquoise and silver charm from the kuchi tribe, a pair of semi square silver bangles, large gold hoops, and speckled earthy mug that I’m drinking tea out of at the moment. I lost track of time and so we had to rush back to LA in the late afternoon, but I was able to make it to my friend z and ahva’s vegan dinner service in an arts warehouse in dtla! I caught up with an old friend there and it was nice to mingle and make some new friends.
aaaaand then I started a new work week! and god was I exhausted. I began to finally seriously work on my residency app essays and contemplate the idea of new york. most of this past week was a blur in that sense, I woke up several days at 5 am to write (and went to blue bottle to encourage myself), found myself stuck in dtla traffic, met interesing harbor residents (and got invited to a beach party this sunday by one of them!), and ate way too much unhealthy food (and healthy food, lots of pitstops at tokyo central for sushi… but also had chik fil a, and a burger, and chips, and mochi ice cream… my period starts next week lol). I did also pick up a sweet gift for my mentor/letter writer at my new favorite gift shop high low in torrance, I gifted her kyoto roasted chestnuts and chestnut + red bean cake, a hinoki yuzu candle, chai concentrate, and colombian sweet bun spice mix. she seemed to love the gift! yesterday I did feel kind of guilty about all the junk food so I went to the gym for two hours to work out hardcore and do sauna lol. I listening to wayne snow album and tonkotori in the moonlight while doing some dance like streches and pilates workout with medicine ball on the floating platform and I really enjoyed it! I met three really interesting people at harbor this week - mason (the japanese one who invited me to the beach this sunday with others), sara (her partner is an olympic runner!), and helen, who reminds in a way of andrea and eliana combined. I could see us being good friends… and she put me onto the social club which apparently replaced oracle, so I’m keen to check that out soon!
okayyyy so this is probably the longest post ever. but just wanted to document all that happened! whew no wonder why I’m exhausted. dinner is coming soon, a wedding tomorrow, and beach sunday! until next timeeee
